A Simple Teenage Shop Owner
by AngryOwl
Summary: Things aren't always as simple as they seem. Just because he found himself in a new world, Naruto shouldn't have forgotten this. Now he must deal with angel, fallen angels, devils, perverts and god, all while maintaining a relationship and running his store. Things can never be simple for him.
1. Chapter 1

**_AN: I'm typing this as of Chapter 34 of this story. If you have come to this story expecting it to follow the adventures of Issei, Rias and the DxD in a strict fashion, this is not the fic for you. After 34 chapters of this story, I have noticed that Issei, Rias, and company(excluding Koneko and a few other exceptions) barely are mentioned. I am simply writing this as a warning to those who came to this story expecting to see them in the spotlight. Same goes for the rest of canon. This story dives into OC a bunch. Same I don't want anyone to waste their time and come out disappointed._**

 ** _Thank you and I hope you enjoy reading the story._**

* * *

Rias Gremory prided herself on many things within her admittedly short life. She was born to the Gremory family, one of the last remaining pillars that made up Devil society. The Gremory family was known for their kindness towards each other and their peerage. That brought up another thing she was proud of, her peerage. Ever since she had acquired her first piece, her queen, it had been slowly growing. She managed to gain a knight with a very powerful sacred gear, a rook who was a former Nekoshou and a Dhampir who had the power over time. Yes, she took a large amount of pride in her peerage members and her ability to connect with each of them. The relationships between herself and them were extremely close, with each of them pledging their loyalty to her at some point in their lives. It was because of this closeness that Rias felt that she knew each of her member's emotions rather well. Though recently, something or rather someone had been testing that closeness.

Koneko Toujou was someone who rarely expressed her emotions. Due to her past and the trouble she had gone through in her life, she had become somewhat reclusive and rather callous towards others. It was only with her closest friends that the young girl dared to express even the tiniest amount of emotion. And when she did, it was usual in the form of a snarky remark spoken with a dull tone. But recently, that habit seemed to be getting even worse. The girl would spend shorter amounts of time in the club room where Rias's peerage would meet. When she would show up, she wouldn't even accept any treats offered by Akeno, Rias's queen. She would just sit on the couch and stare off into space with an emotionless expression on her face. At first Rias, had simply played it off as Koneko simply being Koneko, but that thought was slowly wiped from her mind after several weeks of this behavior. She had originally held off on sending her familiar to shadow the girl. She had felt that it may have been an invasion of Koneko's privacy, but now, the resolve that had once fueled that decision was quickly fading.

Rias released a sigh while running a hand through her scarlet hair. By her side stood at attention was her buxom dark haired queen. The girl was sending worried glances down at her King as the redhead sat in the rays of the afternoon sun.

"This has been going on for several weeks Rias-chan. She hasn't laid a finger on a single sweet I've tried to give her. This has been going on for far too long. I think it's time we get to the bottom of this." Akeno spoke with clear amount of worry in her voice. Rias sighed to herself once again as she let her best friend's words sink in. She knew that Akeno was right but she was still against the idea of spying on one of her peerage members. It was breach of privacy that she was sure would anger her rook if she ever found out. But her growing concern for the girl was outweighing Rias's worry of angering her.

"You're right." Rias huffed before placing her hands on the table in front of her. Slowly a crimson, circular symbol appeared on the surface of the desk. The symbol began to glow an eerie red before a flash of light emitted from it, forcing Rias and Akeno to look away. When they finally able to open their eyes, they turned and saw the creature Rias had summoned.

The best way to describe the creature was as a miniature bat. It's face was very human like as its small wings kept it afloat. It's eyes locked with Rias's before it suddenly took off towards the girl. The redheaded girl had a gentle smile on her face as the small bat perched itself on her shoulder and begin to gently rub its head against her cheek.

This creature was a familiar that she acquired during her first visit to the summon's forest. The nocturnal animal had stayed by her side for years and would constantly find new ways to make itself handy. Like spying on Koneko.

"Do you remember Koneko?" The small bat creature flew off its master shoulder and gave a small nod." Good, I want you to follow her around. See what she is up to. Stay hidden from her and do not let her know you're following her." The creature gave a mock salute for dashing its way out of the open window, leaving Rias alone with Akeno.

"I can't help but be anxious for the results." Rias merely nodded while her eyes continued to stare out the window.

* * *

The sun was shining down from its position in the sky. The rays of sunlight illuminated the streets as citizens casually went about their days. Cars zoomed up and down the roads as shop owners happily greeted and spoke with their customers.

It was on this particular summer day that we found Koneko Toujou making her way through the busy streets. Koneko was a small, petite girl that looked to be around the age of 15. She had snow white hair and hazel eyes. She was currently wearing a white long-sleeved button-down shirt with vertical linings, a black ribbon on the collar, a black shoulder cape and matching button-down corset with a magenta skirt that had white accents. Her small and cute form caught the attention of many pedestrians who sought to get her attention but they were all ignored.

Koneko continued to make her way through the streets, making a turn every once in a while before eventually stopping in front of a shop. The store's display window was adorned with different picture of various sweets and other treats. Kanji surrounded these pictures boasting about their quality and authenticity. Above the windows sat a medium sized sign that read "Uzumaki's Sweets".

Koneko pushed open the doors of the shop, making a small bell ring loudly through its interior. Several occupants threw glances towards her before returning their attention back towards their desserts. The girl ignored these looks as she strode her way up to the front of the store where a white counter was located. She stood still for several second before ringing the bell.

It only took several seconds for her to get response. Someone gently shouted out "I'm coming" from the back room of the shop before going silence. Koneko continued to stand at the counter for several more seconds before the owner of the voice was revealed.

The boy was young, at least when you considered the fact he was running the store all by himself. He looked to be around 17 years of age. He had golden blonde hair that went well with his tanned skin. He was rather tall, standing at a respectable 6 foot and had a lean figure. His light blue eyes lit up when they met Koneko's hazel ones. He was currently wearing a black apron that seemed to be covered in a mixture of sugar and flour. Underneath he wore a very simple orange button down shirt and a pair of khakis.

"Hey Ko-chan!" The boy said as he approached the counter. For the first time since the beginning of her day, the hazel eyed girl smiled as she leaned over the counter. The male bent over the counter as well and their lips met in the center. The two stayed in this position for several seconds, fully enjoying the lip lock before eventually pulling away.

Koneko had a small blush on her face as she stared at the bashful blonde in front of her. This man was Naruto Uzumaki and her first ever boyfriend. At the thought of this, Koneko blushed even more as the concept of having a boyfriend was still very new to her. The two had only begun dating one month, 3 weeks, 5 days, 8 hours, 44 minutes and 13 seconds. She had kept track.

You see, the meeting between the unlikely couple had happened completely by chance. Akeno and Rias had been particularly busy one day, leaving the young girl on her own to satisfy her need for sweets. She had traveled to her usual sweet shop only to find out that the owner had suddenly passed away. This had left the girl rather sad and without anything to munch on. Forming a dejected aura around her as she trudged aimlessly around the city. She would've continued on until one of her fellow peerage member had found her if it hadn't been for the blond standing in front of her.

Naruto had been standing in front of his newly opened shop and was advertising it. When he saw the dejecting girl, he had immediately stopped her and offered a small sample of a simple vanilla cream wonton. The girl had immediately been mesmerized by the small treat before grabbing it at an inhuman speed and stuffing it in her mouth. She chewed it for several seconds before freezing. The young man had been initially scared that he had done something wrong as the girl remained unresponsive for several long seconds. His worry was quickly alleviated when the girl immediately dashed into his shop and sat at one of the chairs placed at the counter. She had a menu in her hand and was looking over it intensively, leaving Naruto to stand in shock in the middle of the street. When he finally managed to get behind the counter, the girl had already begun listing off several items that she wanted. Naruto could only chuckle at the enthusiasm behind his first real customer before beginning to work on her order.

At first their relationship had been strictly as customer and cook, albeit slightly more relaxed. The blonde haired man had a charismatic air to him that made even the usual stoic Koneko break down and share a conversation with him. After several weeks, the boy had gradually broken down the barrier between the two and transcended their relationship into a more friendly one. The girl would come to the shop to simply talk about her day and exchange casual conversations with Naruto while also enjoying his delicious sweets. Naruto would be happy to oblige her with treats and a chat while also giving her large discounts. This pattern had continued for several more weeks before eventually the blonde haired boy had asked the girl out. The request had taken the Nekoshou by surprise and had honestly left her stunned. Naruto had apparently taken this as a no and immediately apologized to the girl. The depressed tone the boy had snapped the cat-like girl from her shock induced trance before she grabbed the boy, unconsciously forcing some of her devil strength into her arm, and pulled him closer to her. She hesitated once again before offering up a meek 'yes' and placing a small kiss on his cheek.

From that point on, the relationship between the two had been growing exponentially. Koneko could be consistently seen at the store, sharing a conversation with her boyfriend. The girl was content with sitting in his lap and having him feed her treats during some of the less busier moments of the day. His gentle hand combined with the natural warmth he exuded had immediately convinced the girl to make her boyfriend pet her. Naruto had no problem in indulging the cute girl and now could usually be seen stroking the girl's head or back.

Their relationship had been going amazingly except for one small issue. That issue being the fact that she was a devil. The girl had always felt a certain amount of guilt whenever her partner shared a part of his day with her and she couldn't be completely truthful with him. Sometimes she was summoned in the middle of their conversations, forcing her to leave without any warning at all. When she would return, she would once again have to lie and embellish her activities. The blonde haired boy would always accept the girl's excuses which only caused her to feel an even larger amount of guilt. She knew if the relationship continued to an even higher level that she would be forced to reveal her nature but for now she would allow the issue to rest.

"How has your day off been Ko-chan?" Naruto asked, snapping the girl out of her small thoughts. Her eyes met his before she offered a small shrug and jumped up on the counter. Naruto rolled his eyes at the girl's behavior while a small smile played across his lips. He placed his hands on either side of the girl's waist before dragging her over the counter and setting her on his lap as he sat down on a stool. The girl let out a small huff that immediately turned into a purr as Naruto's hand found their way to her scalp. The girl's purr was silenced when a stick of dango was placed in front of her lips. The white haired girl opened her mouth and allowed her boyfriend to feed her the snack. Her voice turned into an appreciative moan as she enjoyed the combination of her boyfriend's baking and petting. If anyone from her school had seen her like this, they would be absolutely shocked at the amount of emotions the stoic girl was showing.

"Hey Neko-chan?" Naruto asked, once again snapping the girl out of her train of thought. She briefly turned her head only to feel the blonde haired boy's lips against her own. Her eyes widened in shock at the sudden contact before she relented to the kiss. The two held that position for several seconds before Naruto pulled back, leaving Koneko with a heavy blush. The girl's eyes locked with his, surprise filling her at the amount of emotion present within his eyes.

"I love you." Naruto stated, once again surprising the girl. This had been the first time either of them had ever gone as far to say the "L-word" to each other. As a teenager that would be surprising to most but both had agreed they would rather not rush the relationship. Over the course of the relationship, their feelings for each other had been growing immensely but neither had ever taken it this far. Though once she saw the emotions behind her boyfriend's eyes, a reaction was set off within herself.

"I love you too Naru-kun." The girl stated, causing a large grin to sprout up on his face. The girl was brought into a massive hug as Naruto wrapped his arms around her. Koneko rolled her eyes at the boy's reaction but still had a small smile on her face. In the end, she chose to just snuggle into the embrace and enjoy this special moment with her boyfriend.

* * *

"Are you absolutely sure of what you saw?" Rias asked as her summon flew in front of her. The creature was once again in its bat form as it reported its findings to Rias. The bat gave a small nod, making Rias lean back in her seat with a heavy expression set upon on her usually beautiful face.

"You are dismissed." The red head stated, causing the summon to disappear in a small puff of smoke. Akeno stood by her king's side with a shocked look adorning her beautiful face. The two sat like that for several moments before Akeno finally spoke up.

"If this is true then that means…" Akeno trailed off as the idea became so absurd that she couldn't even articulate it. Rias nodded, sharing the same amount of shock as her queen.

"Yes. Our little Koneko has a boyfriend."

* * *

Naruto smiled to himself as he steadily ran a rag over the counter of his shop. The last customer had long since left, leaving the teen all to himself. A small light directly above his head was the only one on in the shop, highlighting the boy in a mysterious light.

To others, Naruto Uzumaki was simply the only employee working at the small sweets shop. But in reality, the boy held so much more. He was Naruto Uzumaki, Jinchūriki of the nine-tailed fox, descendant of the Sage of Six Paths, reincarnation of Asura Ōtsutsuki and future Hokage. Well the last title was true until he found himself in this new world.

A last ditch effort by Kaguya had sent him blasting through space and time using her powers. Just as he had managed to seal her, the woman had activated the technique. The experience had been painful as his very existence was tested by the laws of space and time. It felt as if his body had been torn apart and put back together over a whole century before he finally regained any sense of awareness. When he awoke, he found himself located in a desert that seemed to stretch on for miles. Exhausted, injured and dehydrated, he was forced to trudge his way through the miles of golden sand.

It has taken him several days to reach any type of civilization. His first contact was with a small town that seemed to be centered around an oasis. The citizens had been rather put off at the sight of a basically naked, blonde haired, bleeding man limping his way into the town. Luckily some of the town members decided to show him a bit of mercy and patched him up. Unfortunately, they spoke a completely different language than his own, forcing him to eventually leave.

From there, he spent the better part of several months exploring the world. The world he found himself in was entirely different from his own. The absence of Chakra within humans was the first big shock. Chakra was basically non-existent in the world. Pure nature chakra was even harder to find as the pollution being spewed out by the humans clouded the world. The second big shock was the advancement in technology. Back in his world, trains and Chakra armor were some of the most advanced technology he had laid his eyes on. In this world, a train was considered obsolete compared to the flying machines that sped across the sky faster than the speed of sound.

Eventually, after much travelling, Naruto had decided to settle down in Japan. The people here spoke the same language as him and the culture was rather accepting of some ridiculous things. He figured he would be able to easily fit in despite his lack of knowledge.

The first thing he had done was make his way to a library. After creating some clean clothes for himself using the henge technique, he had snuck his way into bathroom of the library and created several clones. Naruto and his clone crew then spent the rest of the day going through the vast number of books, absorbing some basic information that would better help him blend into this society.

The first obstacle he ran into was the fact that he did not exist. According to the government, he had no social security number, no passport, no license, absolutely nothing. His first task was to remediate it. This had taken a lot of infiltration, document manipulation and even a tiny bit of genjutsu usage. That last one had taken a very long amount of time due to his utter lack of any knowledge regarding the art. Though in the end, he managed to cast one that made it slightly easier to influence others to go along with his will. An amateur technique that any beginning Genin could have learned in a matter of days but to Naruto, it had taken weeks and proved to be a giant success.

So according to the government, he was Naruto Uzumaki, orphaned since birth with no family ties whatsoever. He spent the first 16 years of his life in an orphanage in Tokyo before eventually finding himself a job. After scraping together enough money, the young man purchased a small property that, with a combination of henge'd clones, he managed to turn into a respectable shop that sold sweets of all kind. Of course he had originally wanted it to be ramen themed in remembrance of all the good times he had at Ichiraku's but decided against it once he realized that no matter what he did, his ramen would always pale in comparison to the legendary noodles. Also he had been surviving off of cheap sweets since his arrival in this world so might as well start making his own. After making sure the shop was completely finished, he began to advertise.

Due to his rather small budget, he was forced to stand in front of the store and hand out flyers. He had a clone in the back, making a small amount of treats that he would give out as samples. Meanwhile he would stand outside, a plate full of treats in one hand and a handful of flyers in the other. It had all started off rather slow but once a brave couple had stepped forward and tried a stick of dango, it all picked up. Steadily, a stream of customers slowly began to enter the shop. His clone began to serve the people outside while he attended to the others outside. By the end of the day, he had managed to make over sixty thousand yen in profit. That night, he managed to sleep very well in the backroom of his shop.

Over the next several weeks, his shop had experienced a wide range of success. It had become a local hit around the neighborhood and Naruto managed to even acquire some people he would even call "regulars". Everything was going quite well for the blonde haired boy.

Things changed on the day he met Koneko. He had once again been advertising his store when he felt something he hadn't felt in a very long time, a large source of chakra. His eyes had immediately locked on to the white haired girl that had been dejectedly walking down the street towards him. Her emotions were visible to everyone as she trotted down the street. Though, unlike everyone else, Naruto could detect a small output of chakra coming from her. The girl immediately caught his interest and he knew he had to know more about her. So he decided to offer her a sample. He did not expect for the girl to suddenly rush into his shop and set up camp in a seat.

He also didn't expect the girl to keep coming back. Day after day, the young white-haired girl would continue to come back to his shop for me. At first, Naruto had just attempted to pry information from the girl. Their conversations were very sparse and short. Slowly that began to change. Naruto began to grow curious about more than just her chakra. He started to ask questions about her day, her mood, her feelings. At first, he was met the stoic attitude that she showed everyone. Not one to be put off by such behavior, Naruto continued to poke and prod at her cold exterior. Slowly, ever so slowly, he managed to worm his way past the girl's exterior and find a place in her heart. Her cold answers became sarcastic quips and her blank stares began to show the smallest amounts of interest. As the weeks went by, the girl began to open up more and more to him as he did the same. Finding out how she had chakra was far from Naruto's mind by the time he could truly consider the girl a close friend. The feeling of friendship soon develop into something more as they became more and more open with each other. Too often he would find himself getting lost in her hazel eyes. He noticed that his stares would last a bit longer whenever he got to chance to look at her rear or budding breasts.

Panic had quickly began to rise in him when he noticed his feelings for her. That panic was soon relieved, however, when he began to see some changes in Koneko. She began to demand that she sit him on his lap while eating her treats. Her excuse was that he gave off a certain warmth that she found very comforting due to the harsh winter they were going through at that point of the year. He could feel her gaze locked on his back whenever he was preparing desserts for other customers. She would become defensive whenever any female customers showed the slightest signs of attraction towards him. Due to dealing with his own feelings and emotions, he was able to figure out that Koneko was attracted to him. It was surprising at first to think that her feelings for him stretched any further past friendship but he soon came to realize that Koneko's behavior towards him went past the realm of just friends. In the end, Naruto had decided to act on these feelings and ask the girl out. And to his pleasant surprise, she had accepted. Ever since then, the two had been happily together. The relationship between them hadn't changed much except they were much more open about their feelings for each other. Koneko no longer needed an excuse to sit on his lap while hugging and small kisses had become the normal greeting between the two. It was honestly some of the best time the blonde haired boy had had in his rather short life.

Naruto's train of thought was abruptly cut off when he heard the door to his shop open suddenly. He looked up and was immediately frozen in place by what he saw. Standing near the entrance were two beautiful young women. Both were dressed similarly, wearing an outfit that seemed similar to what a schoolgirl would wear. The one in front had crimson hair that fell down the length of her back. Her eyes were narrowed as her gaze locked onto his form. The woman behind her was what some would describe to be the ideal Japanese woman. Her long black hair, angular face and slender form would've attracted the gaze of any hot blooded male. Fortunately for her, Naruto was a faithful man and kept his eyes firmly locked at eye level.

"I'm sorry ladies but we are closed for the night. You're free to come back tomorrow when we're open." The redhead's eyes narrowed even further at the boy's innocent behavior. She began to slowly make her way towards the counter while her black haired companion followed close behind. Naruto remained completely still, a small smile still on his face as the irate girl marched her way towards him.

"What is your relationship with Koneko Toujou?" The girl asked while slamming her hands down on the counter. Naruto caught a brief spike of energy coming from the girl before Akeno placed her hand on Rias shoulder. The energy immediately died down but it still lasted long enough to catch Naruto's interest. Whatever that energy was, it felt powerful yet felt nothing like chakra.

"Oh, you gals know Ko-chan? She hasn't mentioned anything about you guys, I think." Naruto had to hold in a snicker as he literally saw the girl grow angrier in front of him. Koneko had actually spoke about her upper classmate who would look out for her and take care of her during school. He could only assume that this girl was the same one she spoke about.

"Answer my question." Rias managed to spit out in between clenched teeth. Naruto's smile grew a bit larger as he turned his back to the two girls and began to clean his cooking station. Immediately, Rias's anger spiked again and she had to be physically restrained by Akeno from attacking the boy.

"Neko-chan is my girlfriend. We've been happily together for a couple of months at this point." Naruto calmly said while cleaning several of his utensils. He was greeted with silence for several seconds, causing him to turn around to see how the girls were reacting. He was caught by surprise when a hand full of glowing energy was thrust into his face.

"I'm sorry but I can't allow this to continue. This relationship will only end in pain for the both of you and as a king, it's my job to protect my peerage." Both Naruto and Akeno were caught off guard by the tone the girl was using.

"Rias, don't you think this is too far? Shouldn't this be Koneko's decision?" Akeno was immediately silenced when Rias held her hand up to her. The black haired girl lowered her head and stepped back. She knew that her king had made her decision and she could not change that. The girl was just that stubborn.

Rias leveled her eyes to the surprisingly calm Naruto. The boy's eyes were locked onto her glowing hand as he continued to stand still.

"Your memories of Koneko and this visit will be erased. You may be angry at me now but things are far more complicated than they seem. I am only saving you the trouble." Rias stated while the purple glow of her hand grew brighter.

Naruto could only grow more curious as he felt a force settle over him. If he had to compare it to something, it would be as if someone was attempting to cast a genjutsu on him. This only made him more curious as the two girls in front of him seemed to be able to wield this energy for offensive purposes. Plus the girl's mini speech tipped him off that things weren't as simple as they looked. He would have a lot of questions for Koneko when he saw her again.

"Goodbye mortal." Rias said before placing her palm on Naruto's face. The glowing light in her palm latched on to Naruto's head, causing the boy to flinch. Rias stepped back as a bright purple light surrounded the blonde haired boy's head. The light began to grow brighter and brighter before suddenly dissipating, catching both Rias and Akeno by surprise.

"That was a rather interesting technique you have there. I would give it a C-rank if it was a genjutsu. Though, you're sort of out of luck. I'm used to dealing with annoying people and their illusions." Naruto stated as the last remnants of the purple light fell at his feet. While the girl's powers were impressive, they didn't stand a chance to a quick burst of his chakra.

"Who are you… What are you?!" Rias managed to spit out despite her shock. She didn't sense any demonic, angelic or magic energy from the boy. There was no way he should've been able to break through her hypnosis technique.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki and I'm just a guy who works at a dessert shop. The better question is who are you?"

* * *

 **AN: As of January 17 2017, this chapter has been fully revised by my wonderful new Beta, Brent! He will be going through all of the chapters and making them less crap. PM or review with any questions, comments, concerns, suggestions, etc. Enjoy your day! Peace.**


	2. Chapter 2

Koneko was furious. Angry or slighted didn't exactly do the trick when it came to expressing her current mood. She had never felt more agitated in her whole life. And all this anger was currently directed at her King, Rias Gremory.

"You did what!?" Koneko growled out while staring at her King. The volume at which she spoke was rather uncharacteristic of her especially since she was talking to the red-headed girl who was sitting calmly behind her desk, a fact that only served to piss Koneko off even more. Akeno was standing behind her queen, seemingly stuck on whether to find the scene to be amusing or actually be concerned about how angry her younger peer seemed to be at her friend.

"I visited your boyfriend." At the word boyfriend, Rias raised her hands and formed air quotes, an act that made Koneko bristle with anger. "You weren't acting like yourself so I decided to get to the bottom of it. I had my familiar follow you and discovered that you were hiding this from us. What I want to know is why didn't you tell us?" Koneko began to scowl at the girl's question before quickly taking in a deep, calming breath. Even though she was angry at her king for invading her privacy, Rias was still her King and friend.

"I didn't tell either of you because I didn't find it necessary. My relationship with Naruto is between him and myself. I didn't find the need to inform any of you because it wouldn't affect my duties as a devil or as a student." Koneko attempted to say in her usual stoic voice though it was obvious that a bit of anger had slipped into her speech.

"But it has been affecting your relationship with us. You could've told us Koneko-chan." Akeno finally spoke up. The young Nekoshou's eyes cut towards the fallen angel turned devil. The sharpness of the look caused Akeno to immediately shut her mouth. Koneko huffed at the action before crossing her arms across her chest and looking directly at the two.

"I apologize if I have been acting differently as of recently but that does not mean that I think it was right for you two to invade my privacy. You should have asked before taking such drastic measures like following me." Koneko stated with a sense of finality in her voice. Rias's eyes met the young cat girl's eyes and the two began to have a heated stare off. Akeno watched from the sidelines as the two headstrong girls' wills crashed against each other. Few people were stubborn enough to actually keep up with Rias's stubborn streak and Akeno knew that Koneko was one of those people. When the white-haired girl wanted something, she would dig it and not relent until she got that something.

In Rias's mind, she was having a mini-monologue. She was surprised that the girl was showing this much resistance to the situation. When she had originally learned about Naruto, she had just figured that Koneko had fallen to a trend that many girls her age went through. Getting a boyfriend and being a couple was something that was expected of girls her age. The two had apparently been going out for almost two months so there still was a possibility that it could be just a phase. But the look in the girl's eyes told Rias that Koneko did not believe so. This was the most passion she had ever seen the girl show since the two had met each other. It had almost made her flinch since she had never seen this type of fire in the girl's eyes. But even with that much passion, Rias was still very uncertain about the situation. To her, Koneko was still the little girl that had been looking for any sense of comfort after her sister had left her all alone. As her King and her first friend, it was her job to make sure the girl would not get hurt. Whether that was physically or emotionally did not matter to the Gremory.

"Well, I still do not approve. He is over 2 years older than you and is a human. He looks to be a ruffian and his attitude was way too pleasant when we spoke. Plus, he doesn't even attend a school. He's bound to turn out to be a delinquent if he already isn't one." Rias stated while closing her eyes, the issue being over in her mind. The temperature in the room almost seemed to drop as Koneko's anger once again spiked to its highest levels. The girl was shaking in place, her hands clenched into tight fists as he attempted to hold in her anger. Her hands were so tightly squeezed that blood was beginning to leak from underneath her fingernails.

"I do not care if you approve of my relationship. I know that Naruto is a good person and I will continue my relationship with him for however long I want." The girl said rather sharply before storming out of the club room, slamming the door on her way out.

"...I think you may have gone a bit far Rias. That was the angriest I have ever seen Koneko-chan." Akeno said while watching the girl stomp her way off the campus through the window located in the club room. Rias released a large sigh before slumping down in her chair and closing her eyes. Even with her queen saying otherwise, she had to believe she made the right decision. For her conscience's sake.

* * *

Naruto was not really all that surprised when his girlfriend came charging into his store near noon the day after her friends had come into his store. The girl was obviously agitated as she didn't even offer him a verbal greeting. She just immediately jumped into his lap, grabbed his hand and placed it on her head. Reading her mood and knowing how his girlfriend acted, Naruto immediately began to massage her scalp. Very slowly, the tension in her shoulders began to fade away and she began to melt more into his embrace. It was a very comical sight to the people present in the shop as the older boy bent to the whim of the younger girl. The young couple's behavior was seen as adorable by the older customers in the shop.

"I'm guessing you found out about Rias and Akeno visiting me?" Naruto said after several minutes of silent petting. Koneko froze for several seconds before offering him a small nod. Naruto let out a gentle hum while increasing the intensity of his petting. The girl began to fall deeper and deeper into the embrace, feeling a sense of warmth and comfort coming from the boy that she hadn't felt for years.

"Don't be too mad at them. They were only trying to be good friends and look out for you. Plus, you know it doesn't bother me. It's nice to finally see the people you hang out with when you're not around me." At this point Koneko had her eyes closed and seemed to be just barely listening to the conversation. A cute pout appeared on her face before she pressed herself even harder against Naruto's chest.

"I don't want them around you." The girl said rather sleepily. It seemed the warmth coming from Naruto's body was putting her to sleep. He found it rather amusing and very cute that the girl was actually falling asleep after diving into his lap.

"Why not?" At this, the girl flipped over so she was straddling the boy's waist. She dug her head deep into her chest while wrapping her arms around his body.

"Giant… Oppai. Makes me… jealous." She mumbled before quickly succumbing to her urge to sleep. Naruto looked down at the girl for several seconds before shaking his head and picking her up. The girl's worrying was cute but it was very unnecessary. What she didn't know was that in his home, he was surrounded by some of the biggest breasted women he had ever seen in his life. Tsunade Senju, Hinata Hyuuga, Mei Terumi, Ino Yamanaka, the list could go on. Even though he was a teenage boy, he had grown used to being around busty women. He would not neglect the girl because of her chest size. After all, how could anyone ignore the cutest devil in all of existence?

* * *

Sirzechs Lucifer could be considered the most powerful devil in existence at the moment. The man was the leader of the Four Great Satan. His talents included: immense demonic power, mastery in hand to hand combat, the power of destruction at his beck and call and the strongest queen in the underworld. Though, the pride he felt in all of these things were nothing compared to the pride he felt at being the big brother of Rias Gremory.

Sirzechs had a very large sister complex. While it was nothing perverted, it was very noticeable to everyone around the man. Whenever he would see his younger sibling, he would immediately try to embrace her in a hug. Whatever she asked of him, he would get it done immediately. There was almost nothing he wouldn't do for the girl just because she was his precious little sister. This was a fact that was known throughout the underworld. It was also a fact that was known by Rias Gremory.

"Imouto?! Is that really you? I'm so glad you have finally called your nii-san." The strongest devil could be heard gushing over the hand-held phone in his office. Standing by his side was one of the most beautiful and deadliest women alive. She had long silver hair and matching silver wore a blue and white maid outfit with a matching headpiece. And currently, she was staring at her husband with a neutral look on her face.

On the other end of the phone call, Rias had to hold in a sigh at the excitement her brother was showing. Don't get her wrong, she loved her brother and was happy that the man loved her but sometimes his behavior could get annoying. Though it was still endearing, just in a very annoying way.

"Yes, it's really me onii-sama. I called because I need a favor and I have no one else to turn to." Rias knew she shouldn't be playing on her brother's emotions like that but she felt that it was necessary. The desperate statement was completely unnecessary but she knew it would immediately catch her brother's attention.

Sirzechs could almost feel his heart tearing at the fact that his Imouto seemed to be in a hard situation. He still carried a large amount of guilt for setting up the marriage between the girl in Riser Phenex and causing her so much grief in the first place. It was part of the reason why he attempted to do absolutely everything the girl requested of him.

"Whatever you need, your big brother will do it for you!" At this Rias smiled and Grayfia let out a loud sigh. Sometimes it was just too easy to manipulate the strongest man in the underworld.

* * *

"Thank you and please come again." Naruto said with a polite smile on his face as he handed the bag of treats over to the young man in front of him. The boy who looked to be his age or a year younger had come charging into the school screaming about how he needed sweets for his new girlfriend. He had practically begged Naruto for recommendations because he did not know what to get for the girl. Naruto was happy to oblige the young man by picking out certain things that would be seen romantic. It was hard for him not to feel sympathy towards the boy since he, himself, was currently in a 'new' relationship.

"No, no thank you! You have no idea how much this will help me. Hopefully, Yuuma-chan will like this enough that she'll invite me to her house and I can see her boobs." The boy said with a rather perverted tone to his voice. Naruto let out an uncomfortable chuckle as the boy began to make groping motions with his hands in the air. He watched as the boy unconsciously grabbed the bag and walked out of the store while muttering perverse things to himself.

"Such a strange boy. Reminds me of Jiraiya but apparently, he actually managed to get a girlfriend. But if he managed to find a girl that can deal with his perverted nature, good for him." Naruto said to himself while dusting his hands off. The blond boy was about to make his way to the back room but something made him stop in his motions. The most powerful energy he had felt since he had arrived in this world had just entered the shop.

Naruto looked up and saw a man standing at the entrance of his shop. The red-headed man was dressed in a rather tight suit that was decorated with spiraling, red designs. He wore a white dress shirt underneath with suit along with a red time. He had on a pair of black sunglasses that hid the fact he was scanning the interior of the shop.

"This is the most energy I've felt coming from someone since I've arrived here. It could rival some of the Kage's. And he looks like a male version of that Rias girl. Now, I know that something interesting is definitely going on." Naruto asked while casually eyeing the man. The man stood at the entrance of store for several seconds before quickly striding his way towards the counter. Naruto pretended not to notice the man as he began to prepare several dango sticks. The man got to the counter and rang the belt. Naruto quickly turned to the man and flashed him a polite smile.

"Hello, sir. What can I do for you today?" Naruto asked in his generic customer-service voice. The shinobi was aware that snacks were probably the last thing that this man was looking for.

"Yes, I would like to talk to the owner of this establishment. I have some very important issues I would like to discuss with him or her." The man stated while pushing the glasses back up the bridge of his nose. Naruto's smile grew even larger before he quickly stripped out of his apron and grabbed a clip on tie to put on.

"I am the owner of this shop. Naruto Uzumaki at your service." Naruto said while offering his hand out to the man. The business-like man stared at the hand before raising his own and engaging in a handshake with the boy. He was caught off guard when he was almost forced to his knees by the strength behind the teenage boy's grip. This was one of the tightest handshakes he had ever had in his life.

"Ah, Well I am Sirzechs Lucifer and I'm here because I am interested in buying this shop of yours." When Rias had first laid out her plans to him, Sirzechs had been really confused. The girl had wanted him to pose as a businessman and buy the shop from the blonde haired boy in front of him, who he learned was Koneko's boyfriend. His little sister's logic was that Koneko was just using the boy because he was offering her an unlimited amount of sweets. Once that supply of treats was taken away from her, Koneko would realize that their relationship wasn't real and break up with the boy.

If any other person had asked him to do something as ridiculous as this, he would've laughed in their face and told them how idiotic they were being. Unfortunately for him, Rias was his precious Imouto and he could never deny her request.

"I'm sorry but you seemed to have wasted your visit. I have no intentions on selling this shop anytime soon. I am very well off with it." And Naruto was not lying when he said this. The amount of money that he was pulling in from the sales of the shop had left him with a very sizable amount of spending money. He no longer slept in the back room of the store, even though he kept a mattress back there for whenever Koneko fell asleep. He now had a small apartment located only a block away from the shop. His bank account had slowly been growing ever since his first month of business.

"Well, I've traveled a very long distance so I'm not going to leave before I even put an offer down on the table." Sirzechs said before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a check. He carefully slid the slip of paper over the desk and stepped back to watch the boy's reaction.

Naruto reached down and picked up the paper. He let out an appreciative hum at the large amount of zeroes present on the tiny slip of paper. It almost looked as if he was about to say yes to the deal… right before he casually ripped up the little piece of paper.

"I'm sorry but I still have to refuse. This shop isn't just the next paycheck to me. It holds a lot of sentimental value to me even though it hasn't been in existence for too long. I can't just give it up now." Naruto said while crossing his arms across his chest. Sirzechs stared down at the ripped up pieces of paper with an unreadable expression on his face. But internally, the red-headed man was freaking out. The check was supposed to be the killing blow to the boy. What teenage boy wouldn't want to be instantly rich?! Apparently, this blonde-haired idiot didn't want to be and if that was true, then he couldn't fulfill his promise to her. If he didn't fulfill his promise it would mean that he disappointed his sister. Sirzechs Lucifer did not like upsetting Rias.

"WAIT!" Sirzechs spoke before letting a little bit of his power settle over Naruto as an attempt to influence him. The boy stiffened, making Sirzechs believe that his power had worked. While he didn't like using his powers on humans, the one thing he couldn't afford to do was disappoint Rias. But he still, he knew he would feel terrible if he just took everything away from the boy without giving him at least a fighting chance.

"How about we play for it? A simple game of poker. You win, you get the money and I walk out of the shop forever. You lose, I get the shop and … I give you half the amount." Sirzechs said. Naruto remained frozen for several seconds before slowly nodding his head. Sirzechs grinned before reaching into his pocket and summoning a deck of card. He walked back up to the counter before dealing the cards at a rapid pace. Naruto's eyes were locked on the steadily growing set of cards located on his half the counter. Sirzechs glanced up from his shuffling to examine Naruto's eyes. The boy's eyes were slightly glazed over, causing the red-haired man to sigh. He had cast a sense-dulling spell on the poor. His senses were lowered along with his sense of judgement. He was basically seeing everything as if he was drunk.

"Let's get this game started." Sirzechs said before flipping over the first card. The man was so confident in his own ability that he didn't even notice the small grin placed upon Naruto's lips.

* * *

"IM SO SORRY RIAS-CHAN! I TRIED MY BEST BUT HE TRICKED ME. HE TRICKED ME!" Rias attempted to hold in a sigh as her older brother sobbed into her leg. Her brother had teleported in the club room only minutes ago and had immediately started to cry. At first, he was too hysterical to even talk but eventually, Rias managed to coax some information out of him.

Apparently, Sirzechs had attempted to win the ownership of the shop via poker match. He had even cast a spell on Naruto in order to make sure the odds were in his favor. By the middle of the game, he realized just how wrong he had been. The boy had left him utterly defeated and a lot less rich. The man had immediately demanded a rematch but Naruto had refused. In the end, Sirzechs was forced to leave the shop completely empty handed.

"It's fine, Onii-sama. Just go home. I'm not mad at you." Rias said in a restrained voice while petting the head of her older brother. Even though he had failed in his mission, Rias couldn't be too mad. It was partly her fault for not including the fact that Naruto seemed to be immune to devil powers. Though, she expected for that immunity to crumble at her brother's hands.

The man looked up at her, his face covered in tears and snot while his bottom lip quivered. Rias forced a smile, causing her brother to smile as well. He gave her a small smile before disappearing from the clubhouse.

"What will you do now Rias?" Akeno spoke as she watched the unmoving form of her king. The red-headed girl let out a sigh before turning towards the door.

"For now, we leave them alone. We have more important things to attend to tonight." The girl stated while looking at the setting sun in the distance. Tonight, was the night where she would gain another member of her peerage.

* * *

Naruto was whistling idly to himself as he made his way from the bank to his house. After tricking Sirzechs and taking a large amount of his money from him, Naruto had kicked the man out and went about the rest of his day. At the end of it, he closed up his shop and made his way to the bank with his rather sizable check. He had been waiting all day to deposit the cash and had decided that he would do it personally. Luckily, he had managed to make it to the bank just before it closed and deposited the large sum of money.

The teller had almost had a heart attack at the amount being put in. She personally called the owner of the check, Mr. Lucifer as he liked to be called, to see if the check was actually stolen. The man had reluctantly admitted that the check was real and gave the woman the authority to process it. Naruto could hear the frustration in the man's voice through the short phone conversation and it only served to make the occasion even better to him.

Naruto's whistling slowly decreased in volume as he thought of items to add to the menu of his shop. He had recently been experimenting with making Daifuku which was a rice cake with a sweet filling. The rice cake portion was rather easy but Naruto was attempting to add a twist to the traditional filling. He had clones working around the clock in order to discover the greatest combination of rice cake and sweets.

Naruto's attention was taken away from his sweets when he noticed a very brief flicker of light appear in front of him before immediately disappearing. His eyes widened slightly when he saw a literal barrier sprout out from the ground and erect itself over a rather large piece of land. The energy coming from the barrier seemed rather familiar to the blond. To the normal human eye, the barrier was most likely invisible but to Naruto's trained eye, it was just sitting here in plain sight.

"Well, might as well step in." The boy placed his hands on the barrier and began to focus his chakra into it. The portion in front of him began to waver as Naruto's chakra invaded it. After several seconds, a small portion of the barrier shattered like glass, allowing Naruto free entry into the barricaded area. He stepped into confines of the red barrier, noticing that it seemed to only stretch around the park. He began to walk deeper and deeper into the park, attempting to find the origin of the barrier.

After only a half a minute of walking, Naruto stumbled upon a very interesting sight. Laying in the center of a rather large field was a dead boy. This was the very same boy that had visited his shop only a couple of hours ago asking for treats in a rather perverted fashion. The boy had to be dead as there was a gaping hole in his stomach and the grass surrounding his corpse took on a crimson color. But that wasn't the most surprising part. What was most shocking was the fact that Rias, the same girl that had walked into his shop and interrogated him, was standing over the dead boy with several chess pieces in her hand and a bright red light surrounding her form. He saw the girl place the chess pieces on the boy's chest before stepping back and shouting a few words. The chess pieces on the boy's chest began to glow the same shade red before slowly sinking into his chest. Naruto's curiosity continued to grow as the boy's stomach magically began to knit itself back together as if it wasn't just torn apart a couple of seconds ago. His cheeks became flushed and his chest began to rise and fall, signify that the boy was once again breathing.

"A technique capable of bringing back the dead. I haven't seen anything like that since the Edo Tensei. I wonder what part the chess pieces play in it. Are they just a catalyst that holds what's necessary for the revival and her energy sets off the chain reaction or are they just for show? Do the pieces contain some sort of sealing array? Also what is this energy I keep feeling that is coming from this girl? I need to find out more about this resurrection technique. If she is able to control him just like Kabuto was able to, then I have a very bad situation on my hands. I don't want to fight another army of undead super powered assholes. But I don't think this will be the best time. My arrival here would be very suspicious and could cause the girl to act irrationally. Best if I just send a shadow clone to tag her for the next couple of days. I have a feeling this will turn out to be troublesome in the end." Naruto's mind was racing as he watched the girl effortlessly pick up the boy and place him over her shoulder in a fireman's style carry. A red seal began to glow under her feet before she disappeared in a bright flash of red.

"Life is about to get a lot more interesting. I can feel it." Naruto thought to himself before fading away in a swirl of wind and leaves. The only evidence of the events that happened the night before was the circular patch of blood stained grass in the center of the park.

* * *

 **AN: This chapter has been updated as of January 23 2017. Given the Brent seal of approval.**


	3. Chapter 3

Deep in the untouched forests of Japan, a small clearing sat surrounded by the miles of dense forestry. Sitting in the center of the clearing was Naruto Uzumaki. The young man had his legs crossed with his hands folded on his lap. His eyes were closed and his body was completely still as he seemingly meditated.

If one had the ability to see the energies of the world, they would see a very interesting sight taking place. The trees, the grass, the bushes, every single piece of the earth was filled to the brim with energy. This energy was not the type you would find in fallen angels, demons, devils, angels or mythical gods. This energy was unique, forged from thousands of years of planetary movement. This energy was called natural energy.

Ever since he had arrived in this world, Naruto had been rather interested in the natural energy it held. Unknown to most, each of the planets had their own type of natural energy. The energy was created from thousands of years of interaction between the planet, its inhabitants and space. The energy was almost sentient in nature. It learned, adapted and took in everything around it. It could be healed and purified or it could be tainted with hatred and sadness. And the latter was exactly what had occurred with this planet.

Naruto had done some research on the history of the planet and its interaction with humans. What he found definitely explained why the natural energy pouring from the planet was so hate filled. In the earlier days of history, wars left the earth soaked with the blood of humans. As war advanced, the weapons that came along with it advanced and these weapons left even more of a mark on the planet. Nuclear weapons filled the earth and the sky with chemicals that only served to increase the damage that was being done. More and more blood was shed and the earth unwillingly soaked it all in.

That was just war. Other industries around the world had done just as much damage. Oil drilling and excavation left giant holes in the planet. Harmful chemicals were consistently pushed into the atmosphere by cigarettes while factories ripped holes in the ozone layer. Artificial dams and human structures made rivers run dry and took away habitats from aquatic animals.

In the end, the earth felt all of this. Rather if it had a consciousness or not, it felt it all and it absorbed it all. It grew angry at the ones who were causing it so much harm. Its once peaceful and healing energy turned tainted with hatred due to the treatment that it had suffered under the rule of mankind.

Now for most people, this wouldn't be a problem. The only real noticeable effect for most was an increase in erratic weather patterns and natural disasters. But the people who felt the biggest effect from the tainted energy were senjutsu users.

The act of creating senjutsu involved drawing in an abundance of natural chakra and mixing it with the user's own life energy. The art of senjutsu required large chakra reserves and, more importantly, strong mental fortitude. For when you take in the natural energy, you also take in the emotions behind it. In earth's case, you take in hundreds, even thousands of years of taint. The mental backlash of taking in that amount of emotions could literally drive a person insane or leave them brain dead. The physical backlash could cause a heart attack or instant death. That's why it was impossible to take in natural energy without being in a meditative state. One needed to be at peace with themselves and at their strongest to be able to conquer the effects of natural chakra.

When Naruto had first entered sage mode on this planet, he had been taken back by the amount of hate he could feel flowing through the earth. While in sage mode, his range of sense was spread over miles of land. And every single inch of it was flowing with this intense, tainted, hate-filled energy. And that energy was now currently flowing through every single drop of his chakra. It had taken a lot of his own mental fortitude to overcome the intense hatred, but in the end he won over it and purged it.

When the purged chakra had exited Naruto's body and entered nature once again, it had spread through the area he had been meditating in. The grass seemed to shine a brighter shade of green, the sunlight seemed to gleam brighter and the trees seemed livelier. It had actually put a smile on Naruto's face when he saw just how much the clearing had changed from the insertion of the natural energy.

Ever since then, Naruto had dedicated his Sunday mornings to purging small pockets of natural energy around the areas of Japan. From the top of skyscrapers to the middle of forests, Naruto always made sure to at least spend two hours purging as much of the planet's energy as he could. To be honest, the amount he managed to purge wasn't even a drop in the bucket when it came to the amount of tainted natural energy that was all around the world. But as a sage, he had to at least try to make a difference.

For the first time in the past hour, Naruto's chest moved as he inhaled a long breath. The morning sun was shining down on his form, illuminating his golden hair and giving him an almost ethereal appearance. The boy's chest slowly fell as he exhaled, unconsciously pumping another wave of the purified chakra back into the earth.

Deep inside his own inner consciousness, Naruto's eyes fluttered open. He immediately took in the abundance of nature around him. Enormous trees formed the outline of a massive clearing. In the distance, an active volcano could be seen erupting. A plume of black smoke was rising from the active mouth of the natural disaster. Above the stack of smoke, high up in the sky, were 8 planetoid object. They weren't big enough to be considered planets but they definitely weren't meteors or anything like that. Each of the planets had a set amount of moons rotating slowly around it, stretching from one moon all the way up to eight moons.

"How cliché of them." Naruto thought to himself as he stood to his full height. He allowed himself to stretch for several seconds even though it wasn't entirely necessary considering he was currently in his own mindscape.

When he had first arrived in the new world, Naruto had been almost completely alone. Lost with no idea where to go, most would've broken down and quit right then and there. Fortunately for the blonde-haired shinobi, he had the tailed beast sealed within him. The nine beast helped counsel him and guide him in his time of need. Their experience, inside and outside their containers, had given the boy and the beasts plenty to talk about and occupy his mind with. Their relationship had grown so much that Naruto allowed each of the beast to reign over a domain in his mindscape. Each of the domains were represented by the planetoid-esque objects in the sky. The number of moons rotating around the planetoids represented which tailed beast were located on it.

" **It's not cliché. It's just an expression of their egos**." A voice boomed out from behind the tree line. Naruto turned his body and looked on as a section of trees along the tree line began to shake. Slowly, a massive red paw came into view. Following the paw was a leg covered in red fur. The leg was connected to a slightly humanoid body. Attached to the body was the head of a fox, adorned with massive rabbit ears. The eyes held the pattern of the Rinnegan as the foxlike creature stared down at its container with a smirk on its face.

"Whole planets, though? Is that really necessary?" Naruto asked the giant fox. The beast let out a soft hum before slowly sitting down, leaning his head on his front haunches.

" **My brothers and sister are thousands of years old and spent the majority of the past couple of centuries sealed away. And in most cases, where their sealing took place was not exactly the most pleasant of places. They only wish to have a place where they can stretch their legs and roam free.** " Kurama stated while looking down at his container. Naruto could only nod at the explanation as he was sure he would feel the same way if their positions were switched. He went to took a seat on the forest ground but just before his butt could hit the ground, a chair rose from the ground to catch him and propel him upwards until he was eye level with the fox.

"When you put it like, I can understand. Anyways, what have you found out about the energy and resurrection technique the girl used?" Naruto asked. After seeing the red-haired girl bring back the boy from the dead, he had immediately wanted to capture and interrogate the girl for information about the technique. Any ability that had the power to resurrect those from the dead, seemingly more powerful and rejuvenated than before, needed to not be in the wrong hands. Of course he realized there was more to the girl than it seemed. He just needed to figure out what that was without tipping her off. That was why he had given Kurama full permission to delve into his memories of that night to analyze the chakra and technique in order to find out anything that could help to shed some light on the inner workings of the skill.

" **The energy, if I had to compare it to something, is somewhat similar to the chakra created by the Zero-tailed beast. It's dark … not corrupted but dark. The chess pieces seemed to be a catalyst for it all. The energy produced by the girl set off the reaction within the chess pieces. When I took a closer look, the pieces seemed to serve three purposes. The first one was to revive the boy. I hypothesize that the pieces contain some sort of very powerful healing technique that helps revive the dead and bring their body to perfect condition. The second purpose is to fill the body with this dark chakra, basically converting the newly revived human to whatever the girl is. Trust me, she is not human. No normal human in this realm contains that much dark energy. Anyways I'm getting off track. The third purpose the piece serves is the most worrying to me honestly. You see, the energy that fills the revived body carries similarities to the energy the girl sent through the pieces. The energy is integrated through every single fiber of that boy. The third step basically bounds the boy to the girl. I don't know how but I can sense a connection between the two and it definitely wasn't there before he was revived**." Kurama finished as his tails swung lazily behind him.

Naruto had his head propped up against his hand as he went over the new information. It honestly did not help to alleviate any of the worries he felt. This teenage girl had the ability to revive the dead and bound them to herself while making them even stronger than before. The strange energy that she possessed that had the ability to revive and strengthen the deceased was also just as worrying.

" **There's also another thing you should know. I took the liberty of looking a bit deeper into your memory and along with chakra, I could sense the exact same dark energy coming from your little girlfriend. There's a possibility that she may have gone through the same process as that boy**." Naruto gave no visible reaction to the news, earning a soft sigh from the tailed beast. While the boy may have acted stoic to the news, Kurama knew that the information was affecting his container. If there was one thing that could get a reaction out of Naruto, it was anything that affected his precious people.

The giant beast rose its paw into the air and gave the boy a reassuring pat on his head. He then stood to his full height and walked out of the clearing, leaving the Naruto alone to himself and his thoughts.

"What is going on and how is Koneko-chan involved?"

* * *

Rias Gremory tapped her fingers in a rhythmic pattern against one of the many hardwood desk located within Kuoh academy. Though, if one was to be honest, this wasn't just any normal, old desk. The thing that made this desk special was the fact that it was located in the student council room. The student council was made up of an illustrious group of students located within the education system of Kuoh Academy. The head and leader of this council were no other than Sona Sitri, heiress to the Sitri clan and the very same person that the red-haired girl was waiting for.

"It's very unusual that Sona-chan would be late. Especially for one of our meetings." Rias thought to herself as her fingers continued to tap against the desk. Not even a minute after the thought, the door to the council room creaked open, revealing a somewhat flustered Sona Sitri. The black haired girl took a second to remove any out of place hair and dust off her uniform before walking over to her desk.

"I am sorry for the delay Gremory-san but I have recently acquired a rather stubborn pawn that has been giving me a lot of trouble. I had to deal with him before I could make my way to this meeting." The girl stated while taking a seat at her desk. Rias nodded as a bright flash a light covered the desk the girls were sitting at. The light soon disappeared to reveal an intricate chess board now sat upon the table.

"It's not a problem. I recently managed to get a new pawn myself and he is a bit of a handful." Rias said as she began the first move of the game. Her having the first move in their games was unspoken tradition that was in place ever since Sona had soundly beat Rias in their first game.

"Yes I heard or rather I sensed it. Issei Hyoudou, one of the members of the perverted trio but also a suspected sacred gear owner. A rather interesting pick, even for you and your diverse peerage." Sona stated as she quickly moved her own piece. The Sitri heir would be lying if she wasn't just slightly envious of the amount of unique pieces the girl sitting in front of her had acquired. While she had trained her peerage to the best of her abilities and knew that they would be able to evenly compete with Rias', she still felt slightly jealous since the boy was suspected to have a sacred gear within his possession. Though her own new addition to her peerage somewhat made up for that fact.

"Yes, he is quite the handful honestly. His status as a perverted individual wasn't exactly well received by some of my peerage members. He is still very rough around the edges but we're working the kinks out." Sona hummed at the response as she once again analyzed the board. Rias and she had been playing against each other in the game of strategy for years at this point. Ever since the two had met each other as children, a natural rivalry had formed between the them. Their position in the devil society, the power their siblings had and the natural ego they each contained made for the perfect formula for a rivalry. Unfortunately, when they were younger, neither had a full peerage so they were forced to compete against each other games of chess. That tradition had carried on throughout the entirety of their childhoods and continued to this day.

Usually Sona would find herself on the winning end of most of their matches. She was the more intelligent of the two and as a child, there was almost no competition between them. Though as time went on, Rias adapted and began to use unorthodox strategies that would catch the Sitri heiress off guard. Their matches had become more even as time passed but usually Sona would still come out as victorious most of the time.

"I sensed your brother in town a few days ago. Is everything okay?" At this, Rias froze before releasing a sigh. Sona raised a single eyebrow at this. She knew that the red-haired girl's brother could be rather eccentric, the same thing could be said about her sister, but the girl never reacted like that when she asked about Sirzechs in the past;

"Yes, I needed to meet with him for a personal matter. Koneko recently found herself a boyfriend and I was rather suspicious of the man. He is around our age and doesn't even attend school. I was attempting to find out more information on him by using my brother but that plan failed horribly." The red haired girl stated as she slumped down in her seat. Sona blinked owlishly at the information, not exactly comprehending what she had just heard.

"Koneko? As in your peerage member, Koneko?" Rias nodded her head solemnly, shocking Sona even more.

"I know, I know. I was shocked too. And now she is mad at me for prying into the relationship. I just want to make sure that she is okay." Rias sighed out once again. Sona stared at her fellow heiress for several seconds before snapping her fingers. The chessboard in front of them disappeared in a bright flash of light, leaving the table clear and the red-haired heiress confused. Sona stood up from her chair and began to walk towards the door.

"Wait! Where are you going? We haven't finished our match yet." Sona stopped right at the entrance of the door, her body seemingly freezing up at the sound of her friend's voice. Very slowly, the Sitri heiress turned towards her fellow heiress and looked the red-haired girl in the eyes.

"I am the president of the Student Council. My job is to uphold the reputation and mood of the school to the best of my abilities using whatever resources I have at my dispose. Koneko-san is seen as the mascot of this school. This emotional integrity of this school cannot withstand the fallout of an upset Koneko. I refuse to let this school fall because of that!" The girl said with an unusual amount of passion held within her voice. Rias blinked at the girl's rather unusual behavior as the Sitri made a sharp turn back towards the door and charged out of the office.

"...Well that was unexpected."

* * *

Koneko shivered once again as she slowly made her way through the streets of Kuoh. The entire day, she had chills running up and down her spine. A constant sense of foreboding hung over her head during school. It took all of her mental strength not to attack the closest person next to her whenever the foreboding feeling reached an apex. Her instincts as a Nekoshou and as a reincarnated devil constantly screamed at her that something bad was going to happen. It had even gotten to a point where she had even reached out to her fellow peerage members to see if they felt the same. She made sure to avoid Rias and Akeno as she was still rather upset with them because of their actions.

A shiver traveled up the young girl's spine once again, breaking her focus and almost making her stumble. That had been the strongest one she had felt so far today. She could literally feel the hair on the back of her neck raising as she continued her journey.

" _What is going on?_ " Koneko thought to herself as she continued to make her way towards her boyfriend's shop. The walk only took a short five minutes but during those five minutes, she was bombarded with shivers and a sense of foreboding that grew stronger with each step. After what seemed like an eternity, she got to the entrance of Naruto's shop and was rather shocked to see that the place was completely empty. She saw that the sign said "Open" so she shrugged her shoulders and went in. Immediately, the chills running through her body stopped and the foreboding feeling faded away. A small smile popped up on her face as she walked to the back room.

She hopped over the counter separating the back of the shop from the front of the shop and walked to the back room.

"Naru-kun, are you back here?" The girl asked as she opened the door to the room. She immediately noticed that the room was dimly lit with only a single bulb in the corner providing the room with only the tiniest amount of light. The second thing she noticed was her boyfriend. The boy was sitting directly in the center of the room on a stool. His face was overshadowed by his blond locks as he slowly and methodically cleaned a small, glass cup.

"Naruto?" Koneko called out the boy's name due to his lack of notice to her presence. The boy's head slowly raised up, revealing his bright, clear blue eyes to the girl. A soft smile adorned his face as he continued to run his rag over the small glass.

"Hey Ko-chan. Why don't you sit next to me?" Koneko's eyes immediately locked on to the stool directly next to the teen. How she didn't notice it when she first entered the room, she didn't know. But she had no reason to refuse him as she slowly walked over and plopped her butt on the stool.

"Why aren't there any customers in the store?" Koneko said as she stared out into the empty store. Naruto remained silent next to her for several seconds before letting out a small sigh. Koneko's head turned and she watched as the blonde-haired boy slowly set the glass down and turn to her. The girl almost recoiled by the steely look the boy's eyes had suddenly taken on. She had never seen this look in his eyes before.

"Koneko-chan, I know we haven't been together for long but I want to ask you something." Koneko's heart completely skipped a beat when she heard this. Millions of possibilities immediately began to flash through her head as her boyfriend continued to stare at her. Was he going to ask her to take their relationship to another level? Was he going to ask her to marry him? Was he going to ask her about Rias and Akeno?

"Koneko … Are you a human?" At this, Koneko froze. Her body, mind and heart just seemed to stop moving. Of the millions of possibilities that crossed her mind only seconds ago, this had not been one of them.

"I guess I should explain some things first. I know that you have chakra." Once again, Koneko's heart was forced to skip a beat at the sudden revelation. "I've been able to sense it from you since the day we may met but I was unsure on whether you knew about it up until recently." Koneko had to hold in a growl as her mind immediately went to the King of her peerage. Her interference in her relationship had forced this to happen!

"I was unsure until that girl Rias showed up. I sensed an energy coming from her. Though hers was not chakra… it was much darker. Then a red-headed man came into my shop carrying the same energy. That set off even more alarms in my head. But the final straw happened a few nights ago. I watched as your friend… she raised a boy from the dead. I could sense the same energy flowing through her now in that boy. And when I took a deeper look into your energy, I saw you had the same energy. I can feel it intertwining with your chakra. So, all of that leads me to my question… Are you a human? Or have died before?" Naruto asked once again. By this point in the conversation, Koneko's mind had started to work once again. It was racing as it attempted to process everything she had just heard. A part of her was furious with her King when she realized that she had somehow gotten her brother involved if the statement about the red-headed man was anything to go by. A part of her was terrified that everything she had tried so hard to hide from the boy had somehow been revealed to him within a week of meeting Rias and Akeno. But finally, the last part of her was very curious of how the boy beside her was able to sense all of this. And that part of her was the first to speak.

"H-how… How are you able to sense all of this?" The girl managed to stutter out. Naruto let out a long sigh before standing from his stool. Koneko watched as the boy stripped himself of his apron before stretching out his arms. The boy closed his eyes and took in a very deep breath.

Koneko's eyes widened when she felt a massive amount of chakra wash over her. She didn't notice her Nekoshou features come out as the warm chakra poured over her entire body. It felt so warm and comforting. It surrounded her entire body and filled her up completely.

"I've been keeping some secrets from you as well Koneko-chan. And I can't exactly expect you to be honest with me if I'm not being completely honest with you. I'm not from this world. I am from a world of chakra using ninjas. I am a sage, a master of senjutsu, I am a ninja and I have several demons sealed inside my stomach." Naruto blurted out. His eyes glanced down to his girlfriend in order to judge her reaction. He knew it was somewhat of a risk to just throw everything at the girl all at once. He was very shocked to see the white cat ears sitting on her head and the white cat tail laying limply behind her. He had known his girlfriend was special but he never expected anything to this extent.

"S-senjutsu?" The girl stuttered out while slowly standing from the stool. Naruto slowly nodded his head before closing his eyes once again. Koneko's heart almost leapt out of her mouth when she felt the familiar feeling of nature surround the boy. She could literally feel the hate of the world slowly filling the boy.

"No!" Koneko screamed before pouncing on the boy. Naruto was knocked out of his meditative state when the full weight and strength of the reincarnated, devil girl with the power of a rook slammed into his chest. He was lifted off his feet and slammed full force into the nearby wall. The concrete wall cracked as it absorbed the full force of the teen's body being propelled by Koneko's strength.

Koneko, on the other hand, was now straddling her boyfriend's hips while her hands laid on his chest. She had immediately dashed over to him when she realized what she had done. Her breathing was heavy as she stared down at the slightly shocked boy. She didn't mean to use her full strength to tackle the boy. But when she had started to sense the nature chakra flowing into the boy, she had no idea how to react. Her instincts had taken over and her body had just moved on its own.

"I-I-I'm sorry Naruto-kun. I didn't mean to hit you that hard." Koneko slowly trailed off when she noticed that her boyfriend was now chuckling beneath her. His chuckles turned into a full blown laughter that sent the girl spiraling in confusion. Her confusion was soon erased when she felt the boy's hand softly brush against one of her ears. The stiffness in her body immediately melted away and her body became lax at her boyfriend's touch. Naruto continued to slowly stroke the girl's ears and head as she melted more into his embrace.

"You don't have to apologize at all Ko-chan. I deserved it for keeping all of that from you. Though it looks like you've been keeping some stuff from me as well." Naruto said. He couldn't even tell if the girl was listening to him anymore as his fingers assaulted every single pleasurable area on her head. She had even started purring a couple of seconds ago, adding even more cuteness to the situation.

Koneko was currently experiencing one of the most pleasurable moments of her life. All thoughts of the previous conversation had went straight out the window as the blonde haired boy's hand continued to assault her head. She almost let out a hiss when his hand left her head but was quickly silenced when she felt the boy's lips press up against hers. His hand immediately found her head once again and she was forced to moan into the kiss as the combination overloaded her sense of pleasure. She slowly began to grind her hips against her boyfriend's as the kiss grew deeper and deeper. Her own hands began to wander the sculpted body of the man beneath her. She was pleasantly surprised when she felt a slowly growing lump begin to press against her rear end. She could feel what she could only guess to be her boyfriend's erection slowly press up against her ass. Just the feeling of it made the girl shiver with pleasure as the kissed continued on.

"And what is going on here?" A voice cut through the entire mood of the situation, making Naruto and Koneko freeze. Naruto had no idea who the voice belonged to and ended up just being stunned by the sudden intrusion. Koneko, on the other hand, recognized the strict and stern voice and immediately grew angry at the sound of it. Her hands balled up into fist as her anger quickly filled her body.

"Well Koneko-san, would you like to explain yourself? You know this behavior is rather unfit for a freshman of Kuoh Academy." Koneko's head slowly turned and her eyes met with Sona Sitri's. The president of the student council was standing in the door of the backroom with her hands folded behind her back. Rias Gremory stood behind the girl with a shocked but slightly worried expression on her face as she observed the situation.

"Koneko-san, I think it's best that you get up so we can lea-" Koneko didn't even allow the girl to finish as she leapt up off her boyfriend and pounced at the girl, her fist balled up in preparation of hitting the student body president. Sona, not expecting that type of reaction from the girl, could only stand in shock as the Nekoshou grew closer and closer. Rias attempted to throw up a barrier spell but it was obvious that she wasn't going to make it.

Luckily for everyone in the room, Naruto's senses when it came to negative emotions were very acute. He had sensed the buildup of anger in Koneko and had acted appropriately. Just as she leapt off of his body, he had moved as well. His top speed far surpassed the girl and he managed to slip past her flying form. He placed himself in front of the girl and managed to catch her just before she managed to tear out the throat of the Sitri heir.

"I think it's best if you two leave." Naruto said as he wrapped his arms around his rampaging girlfriend. Sona continued to stare in shock as she looked into the eyes of the pissed off Nekoshou. She was snapped out of her stupor when she felt Rias's hand land on her shoulder. She turned her head back towards the redhead and saw her shaking her head. Sona turned back towards the odd couple and saw that the girl had yet to calm down. The heiress coughed into her palm and straightened her back in an attempt to regain some sense of the dignity she had walked in with.

"We will be discussing this later, Koneko-san." Sona said in a clipped tone before quickly exiting the room with Rias in tow. The two heiresses scurried out of the store with Koneko's hissing following them all the way out.

"We messed up… We really messed up this time."

* * *

 **AN: Chapter has been updated as of January 23 2017. Given the Brent seal of approval.**


	4. Chapter 4

Koneko couldn't help but release an angry hiss at the retreating form of the pair of heiresses. The anger that she was feeling far surpassed anything she had felt before. Even the feeling of Naruto's arms wrapped around her couldn't quell the negative emotions that had built up inside of her.

Naruto released a sigh as he continued to embrace his agitated girlfriend. The emotions that were quite literally pouring out from the girl were very noticeable to the sage, even without his empathetic abilities. Koneko had already made it known that Rias' initial "curiosity" in their relationship had irritated her. When this new girl had come charging into his shop and started to order her around, he instantly knew that it was going to set off the Neko-girl. He had felt the build up of emotions in his girlfriend with each word that came out of the black-haired girl's mouth.

Naruto's attention was snapped back to the girl when he heard her hiss once again. It seemed she wasn't going to calm down by herself any time soon. A small smirk made its way onto his face when he realized he would have to calm her down himself.

*************************************************LEMON*************************************************

Koneko released yet another hiss as her nose was assaulted with Rias' and Sona's stench. The two devils' scent lingered in the air which only served to irritate her. She couldn't even sniff without getting a nose full of their smell, a fact that almost set her off the edge. Not even her boyfriend's embrace was enough to calm her down at the moment. Her king had once again invaded her privacy and this time had even brought in Sona to help her do so! And she had the audacity to do it when she was spending time with her mate? She was not just going to lie down and take that. In her mind, her attacking of Sona was one hundred percent justified and nothing would change that.

Koneko growled to herself, completely unaware of her boyfriend's train of thought or the expression on his face. She was so wrapped up in her own anger that she didn't even realize that one of Naruto's hands had once again made it's way to her head until it was too late. A sharp gasp unexpectedly escaped her lips when she felt his calloused hand gently caress her Nekoshou ear.

"W-what are you doing?" Koneko managed to stutter out as Naruto gently stroked her head.

"Just be quiet and relax." Naruto said as his hand continued to stroke the girl's ears. He felt her shiver in his embrace, causing his smirk to evolve into a full-blown grin.

Honestly, the blond was rather inexperienced when it came sex. He was a virgin with his only experience when it came to the act was ,unfortunately, having to listen to Jiraiya have it when the man would somehow manage to rope some poor woman into having it with him. Those nights were probably the only ones he wished he could've NOT spent with the man.

He also had read the books his perverted sensei had created. At the moment, he was planning to follow the general lines that the book had set-up for him.

Still, he was completely ignorant AND inexperienced when it came to girls with cat appendages. However, he did know that cats usually enjoyed it when you gently stroked their ears and their tails. It seemed like the same thing applied to Koneko.

Koneko released another gasp when she felt Naruto's other hand gently wrap around the base of her tail. Her arms found their way wrapped around the boy's midsection as his hand slowly slid along the length of her tail. She could sense a small wetness forming near her crotch as Naruto's petting sent waves of pleasure rushing through her body. The gentle caressing of her cat appendages was driving her crazy.

"Naru-kun." Koneko managed to mumble out through the haze of pleasure that had overtaken her. Her boyfriend's attention was now directed towards the young girl's face. Naruto immediately noticed the heavy blush that had settled on her face. Her breathing seemed labored as her eyes became half-lidded. It was very obvious to him what the girl was currently feeling.

The two's lips met in a rushed, sloppy, passion filled kiss. Teenage hormones had now completely taken over their thought processes. There were no restrictions or sensuality in the kiss, only pure want and lust for each other.

Koneko moaned into the kiss as Naruto's tongue forced it's way into her mouth. The taste of his mouth was a mixture of the treats he had eaten which only made the liplock better for her. His hands had abandoned her ears and tails and had instead decided to explore the full length of her body. The feeling was euphoric and she wanted more of it as she pressed herself even closer to her boyfriend.

Naruto had to hold in a groan himself as Koneko forced her body against his. He could feel the girl's budding breast pressed up against his chest. The feeling was causing his growing erection to press up even more against the girl's plump ass.

"Ko-chan I nee-" Naruto was interrupted when he felt the girl's hand land on his chest. He didn't even have a chance to question the action before Koneko used her strength to rip the clothes from his upper body, leaving his upper half completely naked.

"Wha-" Koneko shut up the blonde haired boy when she slammed her lips against his once again. Naruto's back impacted against the floor as Koneko's full weight slammed against him. The two hungrily attacked each other's lips as the kiss reached even newer depths. Naruto's hand settled on the girl's ass while Koneko's hands were rubbing against his upper-body. The girl was laying over top of the older boy's body and was enjoying the feeling of his twitching erection pressed against her stomach. Her hormones were screaming for her to take him and she was honestly struggling to find a reason to not follow them.

"Fuck it." The girl thought to herself while moving her hands to the hem of her skirt. She was caught off guard when Naruto's hand shot up and grabbed her wrists before she could pull down her skirt. Her eyes met his and a shiver shot down her spine when she saw the look the twin, cerulean orbs contained.

Koneko yelped when she found her back suddenly pressed up against the floor of the back room. Her yelp quickly turned into a sharp gasp when she felt her boyfriend's hand land against the outer layer of her panties. The piece of fabric separating the girl's innocence and the outside world had been soaked by juices pouring out from her.

"Looks like someone was looking forward to his." Naruto said as his eyes locked onto her lower body. Koneko turned her head to the side in order to hide the blush that had once again popped up on her face. Her plans were however ruined when Naruto's finger slowly slid up the length of her panty-covered vagina, sending an even stronger wave of pleasure through her body. A high-pitched moan escaped her lips as Naruto's fingers danced along her pussy.

Naruto could feel his erection pressing it against the inside of his pants as he continued to please his girlfriend. The girl had her eyes closed and her first clenched as she squirmed under his form. The blush laid on her cheeks, the way her tail and ears would twitch erratically every couple of seconds and the moans that would escape her mouth was making this whole entire situation incredibly erotic for the boy. He could feel his self-control slipping away with each second that passed. The rising and falling of her chest was starting to become more rapid, tipping him off to the fact that the girl was about to have an orgasm.

"I-I-I feel something.." The girl managed to force out before she felt an overwhelming build up of pleasure in her core. Her body locked up as the pleasure spread through her entire body, forcing her to release an involuntarily, loud moan. It felt like every hair on her body was standing on end and all of her senses were overloading. Her vision went blurry as her mind focused solely on the pleasure she was feeling right now.

Naruto grinned to himself when he felt the wetness surrounding his fingers grow to an even greater extent. He slowly pulled back his hand as the girl rode out her orgasm. He brought his hand up to his mouth before giving his fingers a small lick and letting out an appreciative hum.

"Very sweet. Probably from all the desserts she eats." Naruto thought to himself as he licked the remaining liquid from his fingers. His attention was turned back to his girlfriend just as she finished having her first orgasm. The girl's breath was labored and her face was covered in a light sheen of sweat from the exertion of pleasure. Her eyes weren't focused on his own but on his painfully erect penis that was trapped within the confines of his pants.

"Naru-kun … I want to continue." The girl said while leaning forward and focusing her stare into Naruto's eyes. It was Naruto's turn to blush at the implications behind the statement. Just like Koneko, he was a virgin. Unlike his master and many teens his age, he had not embraced his hormones and thrown away his virginity. He had made up in his mind that he would save it for a special occasion and right now, he would consider this a special occasion.

"I want to continue as well Ko-chan." Koneko had to hold in a shiver at the huskiness that was present in his voice. Her eyes followed Naruto as the blonde haired boy slowly moved his way forward. The two met once again in a kiss, this one much more controlled yet still contained the same passion that the first one had. Koneko found herself quickly overpowered and back against the ground as Naruto ravaged her mouth. The girl's arms were wrapped around the boy's neck as she held him in a loving embrace and enjoyed the feeling of his tongue in her mouth.

Naruto's hands managed to find the zipper of his pants during the kiss and had to hold in a relieved sigh when he felt his penis hit the open air. No longer restricted by the fabric of his pants, his member was allowed to stretch to it's full length.

Koneko's attention was taken away from kissing her boyfriend when she felt something lightly tap against her bare thigh. She felt Naruto separate from the kiss, allowing her to get a full view of what hit her. Her eyes almost bulged out of her head when she saw that it was her boyfriend's cock.

Now that it was no longer restricted by his pants, Koneko could clearly see every inch of the erect member. All 8 inches of it was twitching with anticipation as the head of the penis was pointed at her stomach. She found herself unable to look away, even as Naruto took a hold of her damp underwear and removed it from her body.

"Are you ready Ko-chan?" Koneko could only nod as her eyes stayed locked onto the boy's penis. Naruto nodded to himself before placing his hands on either side of the girl's hips and pressing the head of his penis against her bare entrance. He paused for a short moment before slowly driving the first two inches of himself into the girl.

Koneko had to hold in a gasp as the new sensation of having something inside of her hit her. The feeling was very unusual yet oddly pleasant. Tingles of pleasure were stretching through her body as she felt her boyfriend's cock twitch and shake inside of her. The heat coming from it was making the walls of her vagina tighten around the penis inside of her, making it twitch even more.

"Naru-kun.." Koneko gasped out as the pleasure continued to run wild through her body. Spurred on by his girlfriend's voice, Naruto started to push more and more of himself into the girl before he suddenly hit a barrier. He felt the girl let out a gasp once again was about to pull back before he felt Koneko's legs suddenly wrap around him. Using her rook strength, the girl pulled the two closer together, forcing the boy's penis through her hymen. The small amount of pain that came from the experience was immediately overshadowed by the happiness and pleasure of knowing that the one she loved had taken her virginity.

After several seconds of waiting, Naruto felt Koneko's grip around his waist loosen up and took that as a sign that he could continue. He slowly pulled back from the girl before quickly thrusting his full length back into her. Naruto let out a loud groan as he felt his cock being completely enveloped by the girl's tight pussy. Koneko was no better as her fingers literally dug into the cement floor as she writhed in pleasure from her boyfriend's penis.

The two continued this process several times, each time becoming more and more pleasurable for the two. At first, the motions had been awkward and forced but now the two were moving in a much more natural way. Naruto's hips would slam against Koneko's every second as he drove himself in and out of her entrance. The sound of flesh slapping against flesh echoed loudly in the room as the two lovers fell victim to carnal pleasure. The wetness of Koneko's pussy could be heard each time Naruto's cock slid against its walls. Sweat covered both of their forms as the back room was slowly filled with the smell of sex. Any apprehensions about being loud were completely gone as both of them released pleasure filled grunts, moans and screams freely.

It was after several minutes of these steady motions that Koneko felt that she was about to cum. So occupied with the pleasure her boyfriend was giving her, she wasn't even able to properly warn Naruto. The only warning he got was a very tight clenching around his cock before he felt a rush of liquid spray along his penis.

Naruto continued to thrust himself into the girl even as she rode out her orgasm. He felt the tight squeezing in his own core and knew that he was close to his own orgasm. His thrusts became even more erratic as he came closer and closer to cumming. His wild and powerful thrusts only made Koneko's orgasm that much better as his penis assaulted her extremely sensitive vagina.

In the end, Naruto could only hold himself back for so long before he released. Just as he was about to cum, he quickly pulled out of the girl and released himself. Several spurts of the white liquid landed on the girl's ruffled uniform and even on her face. Koneko didn't seem to care much as the high of another orgasm assaulted her brain.

**************************************************End of lemon**************************************************

Naruto flopped down alongside the girl as he attempted to catch his breath. The couple remained silent for several minutes, simply basking in the glow of losing their virginities to each other.

"You know, you never answered my question." Naruto was the one who broke the silence between the two. Koneko turned her head and saw the boy was staring at her with a small smile on his face. A brief moment of conflict ripped through her brain but the reassurance of the boy's smile quickly squashed that feeling.

"As you have probably guess by my … extra features." Naruto's hand moved to the girl's ears and gently began to stroke them, earning him an appreciative purr from the girl. "Im not a human. Im something known as a Nekoshou, a special type of cat-like Youkai. But more importantly … I am a devil." And with this, Koneko forced her demonic wings from out of her back, ripping two holes into the back of her school shirt.

Naruto felt an immediate spike in the tainted energy coming from the girl as soon as she revealed her wings. His eyes were focused on the leathery skin that covered the demonic, bat wings. He felt his hand slowly leave the girl's ears and reached over to her wings. His hands grazed over the appendages, an action that he noticed elicited a shiver from his girlfriend.

"A devil … I certainly wasn't expecting that." Naruto said while observing the girl's wings. Koneko looked at the boy out the corner of her eyes, watching him for any negative reaction to the revelation. On the outside she had put on her usual stoic face but on the inside she was extremely nervous. This wasn't just a tiny childhood secret that couples would share with each other and laugh about. This was a life and relationship altering secret that, depending on his reaction, could ruin everything that had been built between them. A hard lump formed in her throat as more and more bad thoughts swirled through her head as the seconds continued to past.

"You know, I can sense your emotions Ko-chan. There's no need to worry, this wont change anything between us." The negative emotions were literally pouring off the girl's skin but Naruto didn't need his empathetic abilities to know how the girl was feeling. Though he was surprised by the sudden revelation, he had already mentally prepared himself for something outlandish like this. After all, he did come from a world full of ninjas, demons, shark-men, demonic princesses with unlimited power and even a plant man. A devil as a girlfriend was nothing compared to what he had been through.

"Now as I was saying before I suddenly got launched into the wall.." Koneko had the decency to blush when Naruto directed his stare at her. "I am not from this world, I am actually not even sure I'm from this dimension." Naruto went on to explain his past, his true one and not the censored version he had been feeding Koneko over the course of their relationship. He explained his early career as a ninja and his struggles during it. He told the story of his adventures in Wave and his encounters with Zabuza and Haku. He went over his adventures in the Land of Snow, Tea, Sand and so many others. He left out some parts which included the Pein's assault and the complete massacre of Konoha, some of the events in the Fourth Shinobi War and Kaguya almost enslaving the entirety of the shinobi forces around the world. Other then that, he went into full detail about his journeys and his life.

"If I didn't know you, I would assume you're crazy and walk away from you. But the fact that I can now sense an enormous amount of chakra flowing through you proves your claims. Plus the fact that you know how to use … senjutsu." Naruto frowned at the girl's reluctance to even say senjutsu but he decided to drop the matter as there were more pressing things to talk about.

"I guess its my turn now." Koneko started out before explaining a bit of her own history. She went over the history of Nekoshou and their sudden extinction. She talked about her sister but purposefully left out any mention senjutsu. The topic was still very sensitive to her and the fact that her boyfriend apparently was adept in using it did not change her opinion about the technique. She explained how she came to be under the ownership of Rias Gremory due to her sister's actions and through the use of the peerage system. She had to quickly explain the Gremory family's treatment of their peerage member when Naruto had learned that Rias basically owned her. She could tell that fact still bothered the boy but at least he was no longer liable to go out and slit Rias' throat in her sleep because of it.

"I guess my nickname fits you a lot more than I originally thought, Neko-chan." Naruto said as the girl finished up her monologue. Koneko turned her head away from the boy in order to hide the embarrassed blush that had appeared on her cheek. Her attempts at hiding it didn't last long when she felt Naruto's arms wrap around her stomach and her butt suddenly leave the ground. Not even a second later, she found herself sitting in her boyfriend's lap with him petting her ears. She immediately melted into the embrace, enjoying the light petting the boy was providing her with.

"Now that I know about all of this, I think it would be best if I had a conversation with your friends. I need to clear things up with them about our relationship … and have a small chat with this Rias girl." Koneko turned her head towards the boy and gave him a mock glare and a small slap on the chest.

Don't give me that look, I'm not going to go in and threaten her. I just want to have a little talk with the girl that claims to own my girlfriend." Koneko had a feeling that this little talk he was talking about would turn out to be a lot more than little.

"Look, I'll wait for your school's entrance tomorrow and when you get out, you can lead me to the club. Everything will be fine." Naruto said with a large grin on his face.

Koneko had a very bad feeling about this.

* * *

Sona sighed to herself as she looked through yet another group of complaints from the student body. Her job as the president of the student council didn't just consist of looking imposing and berating students in the hallways. She also had to deal with a constant stream of paperwork from students, teachers, clubs even the janitors. Most of these consisted of complaints but some actually dealt with requests, like the one she was holding in her. It was a formal request by the swim team to be allowed to use lethal force on the perverted trio if they were caught attempting to peep on them again. Sona stared at the paper for several long seconds, debating on actually signing off on it. Unfortunately, she knew that dealing with the consequences of their death would be a lot worse than their current actions. So with a heavy heart and a sigh, she wrote 'declined' on the paper.

Sona's head rose when she heard the knob to her door twist. Not even a second later, the oak door swung open and in came stepping in a very beautiful young girl. The girl had long straight black hair that extended all the way down to her knees with split bangs and heterochromic eyes, with a violet left eye and a light brown right eye. In addition to wearing the Kuoh Academy girls' school uniform, she also wore blue, semi-rimmed glasses with square lenses

"Tsubaki-chan, it's very nice to see you." Sona greeted her queen piece who so happened to be one of her closest friend. The young girl smiled and nodded to her king while walking over towards her desk.

"It's nice to see you too, Sona-Sama, but unfortunately I have some news to report." Sona immediately stiffened up at the sound of her queen's voice. It was very rare that the school had to deal with any problems, excluding the perverted trio. For Tsubaki to actually feel the need to report it straight to her, enough people must have complained about it around campus or it had to do with her duties as a devil.

"There have been several complaints about a suspicious figure hanging around the entrance of the campus. He's been described as a blonde-haired delinquent with whisker tattoos. Usually I would just leave issues like this alone but the teachers claim it's been a distraction to their classes … especially for the female population and asked for us to deal with it appropriately." Tsubaki stated while pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. Sona's eyebrows rose up at the whisker comment as a figure popped up in her head. Could he had possibly tracked her down to school in order to exact revenge? Was he planning something nefarious against the school? She needed to find out.

"Come with me Tsubaki. We'll confront this delinquent together."

* * *

" **It probably would've been smart if you actually asked her when she got out of school.** " Naruto huffed as Kurama's voice ranged through his head. The boy glanced at his wrist to look at his non-existent watch, causing him to sigh. He really needed to get one of those.

"It's not my fault. I was still a little shocked at the fact that my girlfriend was a devil who apparently is basically enslaved to another teenage girl. It's not something you learn about every night." Naruto uttered back sarcastically at the tailed beast. The giant fox let out a deep chuckle before going silent, signalling that it had dropped the issue with the boy.

"Stupid foxes and their smart ass remarks. And stupid school, I'm not even in it and it's annoying me." Naruto huffed out while crossing his arms. The blonde haired boy stood directly outside the school's entrance. He was leaning against the brick wall that surrounded the entirety of the campus. The sun was high in the sky and didn't look to be setting any time soon.

"Can I ask why you are leaning against my campus walls?" Naruto's head shot up at the sudden sound of a voice. He was surprised to see the same black haired girl who had attempted to berate Koneko standing in front of him. The girl was wearing the same school outfit and had the same stoic face that she had entered his shop with. Standing beside her, however, was a new girl. The best way to describe her was a tall, black haired beauty in a school girl's outfit with glasses.

"I'm waiting for someone. Do you girls happen to know when the school day ends?" Naruto asked the girl, ignoring the glare the tall one was sending him. Sona continued to stare at the blonde-haired boy, her thoughts masked from Naruto. The boy in front of her was obviously not normal or at least not stupid, considering the fact that he had been present when Koneko had her ears and tail out. Just how much did he actually know about the girl or the supernatural world was the real question she wanted answered.

"That information is none of your business. You're free to wait for that person outside the boundaries of the campus." Sona spoke as she looked Naruto in the eye. The two had a small stare off for several long seconds before Naruto finally relented. The boy released a loud sigh before pushing himself off the wall and turning his back to the girls. He took several steps away from the girls and it looked like he was about to leave before he suddenly stopped in his tracks.

"I'm sorry girls but I can't make it that easy for you." And with that, Naruto brought himself down into a crouch before sending himself flying through the air into a backflip. Tsubaki and Sona watched in shock as the blonde-haired boy flew over their heads before landing several feet behind them in a crouch. The teen slowly stood to his full height, dusted off his clothing with his hands before flashing a smile to the girls.

"I think I'll just explore the campus while I'm waiting. Catch me if you can." And with that, Naruto went dashing off towards the school, leaving Sona and Tsubaki standing in shock.

"Gather the rest of the peerage and catch that boy before the end of the school day. I will not let that delinquent run wild on campus!" Sona uncharastically yelled at Tsubaki. The girl hesitated for a moment before shooting her king a small nod and disappearing on the spot.

* * *

Koneko sighed to herself as her eyes glanced up to the clock once again. The two tiny arms inside the machine didn't seem to have moved since the last time she checked it. Her eyes glanced back to the teacher who was drawling on about some basic math.

Her attention was stolen away from the teacher when she heard a very faint knocking. Her head turned, along with several students near her, to the window located near her desk. They saw absolutely nothing but the campus grounds, making them believe they had just imagined it. Their attention was brought back to the teacher after a couple of seconds of searching, albeit with a lot of reluctance.

Several minutes passed before another knock, this one much quieter, caught Koneko's attention. She glanced to the window once again and was surprised to see her boyfriend smiling at her from outside the window. The boy waved at her before pointing to the door of the classroom. Koneko rolled her eyes at the boy before shooting the clock a quick glance. She still had a full 30 minutes before the class ended and she honestly didn't think she was going to last that long. She nodded at the boy before turning her attention back into the classroom, raising her hand and asking the teacher to be excused to use the bathroom. The man relented to her request and Koneko dashed out of the room, her books and bag in hand.

Koneko didn't even manage to take a step out the school building before she was snatched into the arms of her boyfriend. A smile slowly made its way onto her face as she was lifted off her feet and into the arms of the person she loved.

"Hey there Ko-chan. Sorry but I couldn't really wait any longer, especially knowing that you were within petting distance." Koneko nodded as the boy placed her bag on his back and let the girl back down onto her feet.

"Did you bring an-" Koneko was interrupted when Naruto placed a large lollipop in her mouth. The girl blinked at the sudden taste of the treat but immediately began to lick and gnaw on it. Naruto let out a chuckle as he watched the girl attack the sucker with her mouth.

"So from what I've learned in my brief time here, we have about 30 minutes until your school ends. What do you want to do?" Koneko took several seconds to enjoy the treat given to her by the blonde-haired teen before removing it from her mouth with a small pop and responding.

"Rias-sama actually has final period free and should be in the clubroom right now. We could go there and get this over it." Koneko said before placing the lollipop back in her mouth. Naruto hummed for several seconds before nodding his head and taking a step forward. He was completely unprepared for Koneko to leap from the ground and onto his back. His arms quickly shot back and wrapped around the girl's thighs as her arms wrapped around his neck.

"I vill ead you." The girl's speech was muffled with the lollipop in her mouth though Naruto was still able to understand her. Naruto rolled his eyes as his girlfriend's actions before slowly marching forward. Every couple of dozens of step, the girl would tap his shoulder to tell him which way to turn. Eventually, after several minutes of walking, the two found themselves in front of a large building that was completely separated from any other building on the campus. The building's exterior could be described as old as parts of it looked dilapidated and overrun by plant wildlife.

"Is this it?" Naruto ask, earning him an affirmative hum in response. Naruto observed the building for several seconds, looking at the several windows and side doors just in case he had to make a quick escape. With his observation finished, he stepped into the building with his girlfriend latched onto his back.

It took several more minutes for them to reach the actual clubroom and when they arrived, Naruto was surprised by the interior. The club room interior was a wood-paneled room with Victorian-style couches and chairs along the walls. One side of the room seemed to be equipped with baths and steam was currently pouring out from over there.

"Sit while I get Rias, Naru-kun." Koneko muttered while hopping off his back. Naruto watched as the girl disappeared behind one of the curtains in the clubroom before he sat down on the rather comfortable couch.

" **This place absolutely reeks of that tainted energy. There's' different variations of it strewn all across the room. The girl most likely has multiple people under her rule. Be careful, we don't know how strong these devils are.** " Kurama warned. Naruto nodded to himself as he continued to observe the room.

Naruto's attention was brought away from the room's scent when he saw his girlfriend exit the backroom of the clubhouse. The girl immediately marched over to him and plopped herself down into his lap.

"She should be out soon." The girl said before going quiet. Naruto placed his hand on her head before beginning to gently stroke it. He could feel the tension in her body slowly melt away as his hands rubbed away her stress+. The couple stayed like this for a full minute, simply enjoying being with each other with the silence in the room.

"I'm sorry for keeping you two waiting." The moment was unfortunately ruined when the sound of Rias' voice cut through the silence. Naruto's eyes locked onto the red-head's as she stepped from behind the curtain, fully dressed in her school outfit. Rias gave a small incline of her head to the both of them before walking over to her desk and sitting down in it.

"It's quite alright. We weren't waiting for long." Naruto said with a polite smile on his face. Rias nodded and the room once again descended into silence. Neither of the two went to speak first as Naruto saw fit to simply sit on the couch and continue to stroke the girl's head. Koneko's eyes were open and she was shooting a not so obvious glare at her king.

"So … I was informed you wanted to speak with me." Rias said. Naruto nodded his head before looking down at Koneko. The nekoshou met his look before giving a small pout and a huff before sliding off the boy's lap. Naruto shot her an appreciative grin before standing up from his seat and focusing his gaze on the red headed girl.

"Yeah. Recently there seems to be a misunderstanding between you, Koneko and I. I've come here to clear some of those issues." Naruto paused for several seconds to make sure the girl was still on track. "Whether you believe me or not, I love Koneko. I know we haven't been together for long but my feelings for her are sincere. I believe her feelings for me are also sincere. And your butting into our relationship is helping no one. I am … aware of your special relationship with Koneko and it's very sweet that you care for her so much but you are taking things too far." Naruto finished by crossing his arms over his chest. Rias sat silently in her seat, seemingly thinking over his words before responding.

"I do not know you and I do not trust you. Koneko is a very close friend of mine and I care about her well-being. I will not allow anyone to harm her physically or emotionally."

"With all due respect, your actions during the past few weeks have been more emotionally disturbing to Koneko than anything I have ever done to her."

"With all due respect, I've spent years with Koneko and I know her very well. If I was really bothering her that much, I would know."

"With all due respect, that last part is bullshit."

"You take that back!" Rias yelled as she shot up from her seat.

"Make me take it back." Naruto said in a childish tone. Koneko rolled her eyes at her boyfriend's behavior as she watched Rias step from out behind her desk. The girl's anger was on full display as she stomped her way up to Naruto.

"Take it back."

"No."

"Take it back!"

"No."

"Take it back!"

"Rias-Sama I'm her-" Issei came bursting into the clubroom only to have a couch cushion come crashing into his face. Rias and Naruto's eyes turned to Koneko and saw the girl was staring innocently at the wall while munching on one of her cookies.

"Look, the bottom line is that your interference in our relationship is bothering you, Koneko and I. I'm asking for the both of us to stop it. I know that Koneko has obligations to you due to her being a devil. Yes, I know about that, and I understand. But there's a certain boundary you need to stay behind when it comes to our relationship." Naruto stated while flaring a bit of his chakra for emphasizes. Rias' eyes widened when she felt the quick burst of chakra wash over her. The burst was strong enough to send the girl tumbling backwards onto her butt.

Not even several seconds later, the door to the club house bursted open and in rushed in Sona, Tsubaki, Akeno and a princely looking boy. Each one of them had their devil energy flowing around them as they looked at Rias's down form. Their eyes locked onto the blonde-haired boy as they collectively narrowed their eyes at him.

"This may look bad but I promise you it's all a big misunderstanding, let's just talk it out." The room was silent for several seconds before Issei suddenly charged into the room, his gauntlet out as he ran towards Naruto.

"Attack!" With a single word, all hell broke loose.

* * *

 _ **AN: Some of you may feel that the lemon came a bit earlier than you would like. In response, I ask you to kindly think about your time as an overly hormonal teenager. That is all. Review or PM with any questions, concerns, comments or etc.**_

 _ **Updated as of January 19th 2016**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**This chapter has been updated as of January 24th. More updates to come.**_

* * *

"How much energy do you sense coming from them?" Naruto said while pacing inside his mindscape. As soon as the boy had come charging into the room and screamed attack, Naruto had retreated into his mental space. He wanted to talk with his tenant before confronting the teeangers in front of him.

"A decent amount. Its nothing compared to what the red-headed man had. The Rias girl and Sona seem to have the most energy. The boy charging at you at the moment has a small amount but Im sensing an even greater energy coming from his gauntlet. Its almost like something is sealed within it. It could prove to be somewhat interesting though I doubt you'll have to use any of the heavy hitting techniques to subdue them all." Kurama rattled off.

"So some of the basic three and plain ol' taijutsu mixed with a bit of humiliation?"

"Exactly." Naruto grinned at the fox before raising his fist. Kurama raised his massive paw and bumped it against the boy's, ejecting the blonde-haired teen out of his own mind.

Naruto opened his eyes and saw that barely any time had passed. The plain looking boy was still charging towards him with his gauntlet out and prepared for a punch. He could see the other students preparing their own techniques behind the boy.

"Lets see what you devils are made of." Naruto muttered to himself as the boy finally appeared in front of him. Issei planted his foot just in front of Naruto before attempting to send a heavy punch at Naruto's chest. The shinobi almost tore his hair out at the slow speed and horrible form the boy was showcasing. He was moving faster than this during his academy years!

"I hope that the others aren't as disappointing as he is." Naruto thought to himself as he casually slapped aside the boy's punch. He almost laughed to himself as the force behind his slap sent the boy off balance and stumbling into a wall.

Naruto tilted his head to the side just as a bolt of what appeared to be lightning flew by him. The bolt zipped by his head and slammed into the wall behind him. His eyes locked onto the busty black haired girl that was erotically licking her lips while staring at him. He could see sparks literally shooting off of her skin as the girl shivered in place.

"Great, another battle thirsty sadist." Naruto mumbled to himself before absentmindedly unsealing a kunai into his palm and parrying a sword strike. He turned his head slightly turned slightly and saw the "Prince of Kuoh" struggling to overpower him. The boy's face was contorted into a mask of concentration as he put all his strength behind his sword. Naruto chuckled at the boy's attempt before suddenly jumping back, causing Kiba to become off balance just as another bolt of lightning sailed by Naruto

While in the air, Naruto could see the girl standing by Sona's side pull out a Naginata before summoning her bat wings and taking off towards him. The girl flew through the air towards him while lifting her weapon above her head. She used her wings to propel herself forward while bringing the bladed part of the weapon down on his form.

"Gotcha!" Tsubaki yelled as she felt the blade cut cleanly through the boy's body. Her happiness was instantly sucked away when she saw the boy's body disappear in a puff of smoke before a destroyed couch cushion took her place.

Koneko blinked in surprise when she felt the texture of the cushion she was sitting on suddenly change. She looked down and noticed that the cushion she had been sitting on suddenly had a pair of legs. She heard a soft laughter before she felt a pair of lips land gently on the crown of her head.

"Sit this out, I want to see how good your friends are. I promise not to hurt them .. or get hurt myself." Koneko heard Naruto say before she suddenly found herself back on a couch cushion. She sat there in shock for a brief moment before shrugging and going back to observing the fight.

Naruto made his reappearance into the battle by dashing over to Kiba and landing a quick kick into the boy's side. The handsome school boy was lifted off his feet and thrown through the air by the force behind the kick. He ended up unconscious inside a wall as his body broke through it.

"One down." Naruto muttered to himself as he sidestepped yet another bolt of lightning. His eyes returned to the dark haired girl and saw that a blush was now spreading across her face as she charged up yet another lightning strike.

"AHHHHHHH!Naruto turned his head and saw Issei charging towards. Something must've reinvogoarted the teen as his speeds were much quicker. Though the speed was still barely breaking gennin level, it was still much better than the academy level sprint the boy had shown at the beginning of the fight. It still wasn't going to be enough to beat him.

"For the President!" Issei yelled before bringing his fist down onto Naruto only to hit nothing but air. The boy didn't even notice that Naruto was now crouching behind him with his hands clasped together. Issei began to yell a string of curses for losing sight of the blond but was interrupted when he heard a phrase that would end up haunting him for the rest of his life.

" **Konohagakure Hidden Secret Taijutsu Technique: One Thousand Years of Death**." The occupants of the room gasped at the dramatic name of the technique. Koneko was taken back that her boyfriend would even think to use a technique with a name like that especially since he had just promised to not hurt her friends. She may of not actually enjoyed Issei's perverted tendencies but he didn't want him to die.

Any worries were completely wiped from her mind when she saw her boyfriend shove his index and middle finger into Issei's ass. The boy's mouth contorted in a scream of pain but not a single sound came out. Not even a second later, the boy was lifted off his feet, and was sent crashing through the ceiling of the clubroom.

"I completely do not blame Kakashi-Sensei for using that on me back during the bell test. It is so funny to watch." Naruto thought to himself as Issei let out an unconscious groan from his hole in the roof. The blonde haired boy stepped to the side just as Tsubaki's naginata slammed into his previous position. He was forced to bring his legs up as the girl attempted to sweep his legs out from under him with the wooden pole of her weapon. As soon as his feet touched the ground, Naruto lashed out with a quick right handed punch that sent the girl stumbling backwards. The blond took advantage of her off balance as he dashed behind the girl in a burst of speed before slamming the blunt end of his kunai into her temple, sending her crumbling to the ground.

"Seems like you and I are the only ones left." The big breasted, lightning wielding girl said as she stared at the Naruto. On the couch, Koneko's anger was slowly building up as she saw the sensual expression on Akeno's face. Her anger was quickly repressed when she saw a yellow blur cross her vision before her boyfriend's arm was placed around her shoulder. Her eyes' widened when she looked to her left and saw Naruto sitting there grinning at her yet the blonde haired boy was also standing in the middle of the clubroom, facing off against Akeno.

"They've been fighting a clone this entire time. My base strength would be just a little too much for them so I made a clone for them to fight with. Meanwhile, I went back to the shop and got you some cookies." Naruto said while handing the girl a small bag of cookies. Koneko stared at the small, paper bag for a brief moment before a wide smile popped up on her face. She immediately hopped onto the boy's lap and opened her mouth, her actions immediately being met with a cookie as Naruto's free hand began to pet her head.

"This is the life." Koneko thought to herself as she watched her boyfriend's clone confront Akeno. "Teach that big-breasted bimbo a lesson."

"This girl reminds me of Anko so much. From her body and that freaky lip licking thing. Kami, I can practically smell her arousal." The clone thought to itself as he took another stride towards the girl while dodging another one of her lightning bolts. The girl's attacks were rather one dimensional though he could definitely sense some power behind them. She needed to add more variation to her attacks if she ever hoped to get better.

"Ufufu Im going to have a lot of fu-" Akeno was interrupted when she felt a slight stinging sensation on her cheek. She reached her hand up to her cheek and felt the small cut that had seemingly formed on her face out of nowhere. She pulled her hand back and slowly began to lick at the blood that now covered her fingertips.

"Never take your eyes off your opponent." Akeno heard from behind her before a massive wave of pain forced her into unconsciousness. From behind her, Naruto watched as the girl collapsed to the ground from his attack.

"My job here is done." The clone said before exploding in a puff of smoke, startling the two kings who were the only two devils still standing, excluding Koneko of course. Now that all the action had died down, they could hear a gentle purring coming from the other side of the room. The two kings turned their heads and saw that Koneko was purring while being fed cookies by the blond boy that had seemingly just exploded into a cloud of smoke.

"I'm surprised neither of you stepped in to help your "servants" though I suppose that is the nature of a "king" so I shouldn't be surprised, just very disappointed." Naruto said while glaring at the two girls. Rias' was too shocked to respond after seeing the majority of her peerage be taken down by a single opponent. Luckily for her, Sona stepped up to speak for the both of them.

"I could sense no ill-intent coming from you since the first attack you made on Issei. You aimed to incapacitate with every hit. After you pulled that rather … absurd attack on Rias' pawn, I knew that you were not going to do any long lasting damage to anyone in the room. Plus, I wanted to test Tsubaki-chan's prowess against an opponent that was obviously stronger than her. You may see my actions as selfish but I assure you, they were all calculated to assure my peerage would come out without too much harm." Sona rattled off while stepping towards the seated duo. Naruto stared at the black haired girl for several seconds before releasing a small hum.

"And what if I was just luring you into a small sense of safety for my own amusement before brutally slaughtering every single person in this room?" Sona froze when she felt a small prick on the side of her neck. Her eyes quickly scanned the room and she could see that there was now a copy of the blonde haired boy next to each member of the room. Each clone had a kunai in hand and was pointing the knife at the neck of each devil present. Even her fellow king was in danger as a small droplet of blood dripped down the redhead's slender neck.

"Well .. What would you do now? You have allowed all your allies to be defeated because you assumed I wasn't some trained assassin who was merely toying with you before killing you all. What do you do?" Naruto said in a deathly serious tone. Sona found herself at a lost for words as she continued to look at the blonde. The once carefree and lax blonde had been replaced by a deadly and serious one. Even Koneko seemed taken back since she had stopped in her purring to take in the situation.

"Well? Even try to make a move and I could slit the throats of everyone in this room." Sona could feel herself begin to sweat a bit as she racked her brain in order to answer his question. She felt a bit more pressure being put on her neck as the clone behind her leaned more into the kunai.

"I … I do not know." Sona admitted while breaking eye contact with Naruto due to her own embarrassment. She hadn't accounted for that in her own mental assessment of the situation. To have the fact that she just endangered the life of some of her peerage was something that severely upset her.

Naruto released a pleasant hum before snapping his fingers. All at once, every single one of the clones disappeared in a small puff of smoke. Sona immediately took a step away from Naruto while Rias moved closer to the Sitri heir.

"Luckily for you, I'm have no reason to hurt any of you as of right now. Though I think you should teach your members a little more self-control. You never know exactly who you will encounter sometimes." Naruto stated while continuously stroking Koneko's head. The other two conscious Kuoh academy students looked on at the scene with a mixture of wariness, shock and just complete disbelief.

The scene was soon interrupted when the gremory clan seal flashed brightly on the floor of the club room. Rias looked on nervously at the seal while the rest of the conscious occupants of the room stepped away from it.

"Rias-chan! I GOT YOUR MESSAGE, YOUR BIG BROTHER IS HERE TO SAVE YOU!" Rias could only hold in a groan as her obsessive brother literally came flying out of the seal in an offensive stance. His eyes quickly scanned the room, taking note of the unconscious bodies scattered around along its floor, before finally locking onto Naruto. All the bravado coming from the older redhead immediately stopped as he began to gasp like a fish out of water.

"YOU! IT'S YOU! YOU'RE THE ONE WHO TOOK MY MONEY!" Sirzech yelled while pointing an accusing finger at Naruto. The teen merely waved at the man, causing him to physically recoil in shock. His head immediately turned to Rias as he began to rattle off a quick succession of questions.

"What is he doing here? Did he take your money too? Did he hurt you? You didn't bet anything against him, did you? He has Satan's luck, I swear he does!" Sirzech stated before collapsing to the ground with tears rolling down his cheeks. This time Rias couldn't hold in her groan as her older brother once again was embarrassing her. She had originally sent for him when she saw Naruto easily handling the majority of her peerage. She wanted to be sure that the issue would be handled just in case the boy attempted to turn on her or Sona. Now she was regretting even asking for the older man's help.

"Hello Lucifer-san, I'm up for that rematch if you're willing to give it another shot." Naruto said while smiling at the man. He had to hold in a chuckle as the redheaded man disappeared in a red blur and reappeared behind Rias, seemingly using his little sister as a shield against the shinobi.

"NO! You stay away from me and my money. I refuse to lose any more to you." Sirzech said before ducking back behind his sister. Sona had to stop herself from face palming as she watched one of the strongest devils in existence hide behind his little sister in fear. Unfortunately she wasn't too shocked due to how her own sister would act around her. The former sitri heir was the very definition of child-like and her behavior only seemed to intensify whenever she was around Sona. Just thinking about her sister's behavior was sending shivers down the young girl's back.

"How do you know Sirzechs-san, Naruto-kun?" Koneko's voice stopped all activity in the room as everyone looked towards her. Rias had to hold herself back from slapping herself as she realized that Koneko didn't know she went behind her back … again. And now she had just brought in one of the few pieces of evidence that she had gone against her friend's wishes.

"He came to visit me in order to buy my shop. When I refused, he offered me to bet for it. Long story short, he lost a lot of money and I kept my shop. I had thought that something seemed a bit off with him but I would've never thought that Mr. Lucifer would be this closely related to Rias-san." If looks could kill, Rias would find herself back in the underworld right now. Koneko's once pleased gaze had turned deadly and sharp glare as she stared at Rias. Now Rias was the one who felt like hiding behind her sibling. The small nekoshou was gripping onto her boyfriend's leg with an enormous amount of strength and anger. If Naruto had been any other person than himself, his bones would be shattered into pieces right now.

"We're leaving now." Koneko said before climbing off of Naruto's lap. The boy didn't even have a chance to protest as his grip was captured into a bone crushing grip and he was dragged out of the club room.

"Hehe… Did I mess up again?" Sometimes Rias really hated brother's antics.

* * *

Naruto hummed pleasantly to himself as he began to clean off the counters in his shop. It was late at night and he had once again finished serving the last customer. Today had been a rather interesting day for him. After leaving the club room with Koneko, he spent an hour or so calming the young girl down. Some heavy petting and sweets managed to calm the girl down. After sending the girl home, Naruto decided to open the shop for a late shift in order to capitalize on the late night sugar addicts. It was now around about one in the morning and it seemed like the last of his late night customers had came and went.

Naruto's attention was taken away from his cleaning when he heard a light scratching coming from outside his store. His eyes quickly jumped up and he was surprised to see a small black cat scratching against the entrance to his shop.

" **You know that isn't a normal cat right**?" Kurama spoke up as Naruto locked eyes with the cat. The creature was rather unassuming. In most cases, he would overlook the small creature but warning bells were being set off by the car.

"Yes, normal cats don't usually have traces of senjutsu literally wafting from its form. Plus the amount of devil energy coming from her is ridiculous."

" **I'm guessing that's not going to stop you from letting it in**?"

"Not at all." The fox could only chuckle at his partner's reply. Even though he was trapped in a completely different dimension, surrounded by supernatural beings and apparently even gods, Naruto was still the same old knuckleheaded ninja he was back in his academy days.

"Now what are you doing out here all by yourself?" Naruto said while opening the door to his shop. The cat immediately dashed into the store before quickly making its way towards one of the many seat and jumping onto it. The cat then turned back towards Naruto before casually beginning to lick itself.

"Would you like a treat or something? Wait … I don't know if cats can even eat sweets. I know dogs can't eat chocolate, does that mean cats can't eat sugar? I guess I'll give you some milk from the back." Naruto nodded to himself while making his way to the back of the store, completely missing the facepalm the cat performed on itself. The blond haired boy walked to the back of his shop and retrieved a small glass bottle of milk from the small fridge he had stored back there. A pleasant whistle began to travel through the shop as Naruto made his way back to the front of the store.

"Heres some milk kitty-chan. I didn't know if you enjoyed regular, strawberry or chocolate but I can go back if you prefer … something…" Naruto slowly trailed off as he stared at the stool where the black cat once sat. The seat was no longer occupied by a cat but by a human, a rather scantily clad woman. The cat was now a young woman with a voluptuous figure, long black hair with split bangs and hazel eyes with cat-like attire consisted of a black kimono, a yellow obi, a set of golden beads, and an ornately detailed headband. The kimono featured a red interior and it seemed to open at her shoulders. The most interesting feature the girl had was the set of cat ears sitting on the girl's head.

" **Told you that wasn't a normal cat.** "

"Not the time Kurama." Naruto mentally yelled at his partner while staring the girl in her eyes. His own history with perverts and the fact that he was in a relationship made it possible for him to resist making eye contact with the girl's breast. The two, large orbs of smooth flesh were basically being flung in his face but the shinobi resisted.

"You wouldn't happened to have seen a black cat sitting in this chair a couple of seconds ago?" If possible, the girl's smirk increased to even greater proportions while she swung her legs over the chair. If Naruto had looked down, he would've seen her breast jiggle within the loose confines of her dress. He may of even been able to see that the girl was currently going completely commando under that dress of hers.

"Maybe I have, Maybe I haven't. The real question is how are you going to convince me to tell you? Nya~" The girl said in a playfully, seductive voice while placing a single hand on Naruto's chest. Naruto, very gently, grabbed the woman's wrist and removed the girl's hand from his body, earning himself a disappointed moan.

"Well I have some milk for you. I guess I could make some sweets if you force my hand." Naruto said while handing the girl a bottle of milk. The girl looked at the bottle of milk for several seconds before slowly rising from her seat. She gently pushed away the offering arm before pressing herself against Naruto. The shinobi could now get an even greater feel for the woman's physique as she pressed her body against his. Every single one of the girl's curves could be felt by Naruto and was only separated from his own body by the thin dress the girl was wearing.

"Is this forcing your hand enough? Maybe I can get some of those sweets now?" The girl said while slowly trailing her hand down Naruto's stomach. This time, Naruto's grip wasn't so gentle as he squeezed down on the girl's wrist, causing her to let out a hiss of pain. The girl's grin was wiped from her face as her eyes met Naruto's.

"I'm in a relationship and I'm pretty sure my partner wouldn't want you go any further than you already have. Now are you going to tell me why you were outside my shop or do I have to force it out of you the hard way?" Naruto stated in a stern voice. The atmosphere of the shop immediately grew cold as both occupants fell into silence. Everything was completely still for several long seconds before the strange, black-haired girl bursted into action.

The girl pushed off of Naruto with an abnormal amount of strength for someone of her size, causing the blond to go sliding back several feet. While the boy recovered from the suprising display of strength, the Nekshou drew a small seal in the air. Without any warning, black smoke quickly began pooling out from the floating seal and into the room, quickly filling it with its presence.

"I was surprised when I felt a surge of senjutsu near here. I thought that maybe my cute, little Shiro-chan had went and activated her legacy. Only for me to come to find out that it was actually you putting out all that pure energy, Nya~" Naruto quickly caught his balance just as the black smoke reached him. The smoke quickly wrapped around the boy, it acting as a physical form as it lifted him up into the air. Seeing that the blond was now captured, the girl took her time sauntering back towards him.

"So mind explaining to ME how you know how to do senjutsu and why you are around my Shiro-chan?" The playfulness had left the girl's voice as she leveled a cold stare at Naruto's struggling form. The shinobi was attempting to break free from the black mist but seemed to be having no luck doing so.

"The more you struggle, the more I have to hurt you, cutey. Nya~" Another seal appeared in the air as the mist seemed to tighten around Naruto, forcing a groan out of the blonde-haired boy.

The girl was interrupted in her torture session when she felt a hand grab onto her ankle. She felt a strong pull on her ankle as her right leg was suddenly taken out from under her. A slight sense of dizziness overcame her as she felt herself spinning around in the air for several seconds before suddenly being sent flying through the air. The foreground of her vision blurred as she went sent flying through air before she made a sudden and unexpected stop as she slammed into a brick wall.

"Thank Kami for shadow clones. They always fall for them." Naruto stated as he walked into the back room of his store. The room was outfitted with a wide variety of seals that worked to basically make sure everything that happened inside was kept inside. To an outsider's perspective, there was only a simple freezer and a couple of storage shelves. No one would be able to see the crumbling wall nor the neko-girl who was in said wall.

"Now that wasn't so nice, nya~." The girl said as she pushed herself out of the crumbling wall. Naruto closed the door behind himself, locking the two super powered beings in the same room together.

"It wasn't nice of you to try and kill me either. Now, I have some more questions for you. Who are you, who is Shiro-chan and how much do you know about senjutsu?" The girl's smile once again appeared on her face as Naruto fired off his questions.

"You still have to convince me Fo-" The girl was silenced when she felt a slight prick on her neck. Not even a second later, several puffs of smoke surrounded her, each puff accompanied with the appearance of a clone. Each clone leveled a glare at her as they held knives to each vital point on her body.

"Nya~ I guess no more playing around." Naruto nodded his head as the girl eyed his clones. The playful look in her eyes was still present but Naruto could see that the girl was actually examining the copies. Whether it was out of plain curiosity or in an attempt to find a weakness, he could not figure out.

"My name is Kuroka and lets just say I'm on the run for being too adorab-" The girl was interrupted when the clone standing behind her pressed it's kunai harder against her neck, causing a thin cut to form. The nekoshou rolled her eyes before starting to speak once again. "Fine, I'm an SS class devil outlaw. I'm one of the most wanted criminals in the underworld. I consider myself a master at the arts of Senjutsu, Nya~! And Shiro-chan is my little sister." Naruto stared at the girl after her short introduction for several seconds before letting out a small laugh. A look of confusion slowly crossed Kuroka's face as Naruto's laughter grew in volume.

"I'm sorry but you're no master at senjutsu. I have no idea how but you seem to be using a very bastardized version of Senjutsu. Nature isn't rejecting you but it's definitely not accepting you. A sage, a true master of Senjutsu, is always in tune with are no master." Naruto said while pressing his hand to the floor. Kuroka watched in suprise as several small plants began to bloom from beneath the cracks of the floorboards. Several flowers and patches of grass sprang up underneath Kuroka's feet, causing her to let out a small giggle as it tickled her bare feet.

"As for Shiro-chan, I can only assume you mean Koneko. The ears and senjutsu give it away a bit. I'm guessing you're the sister she was talking about." Naruto said as the clones surrounding Kuroka disappeared, freeing the young woman from captivity. The girl look thankful to be free as she performed a small stretch, unknowingly pronouncing her assets to an even further extent in front of Naruto.

"Shi-chan talks about me? How sweet, Nya~! But yes, I've been tailing her for a little while and I was shocked to see that my little Imouto-chan found herself a boyfriend! Especially one so big … strong… and powerful." Kuroka said while sauntering towards Naruto. The girl let out another disappointed groan when Naruto's arm shot out and stopped her from even getting close to him. Naruto shot the girl a curious glance, earning a short giggle from her.

"Just need to make sure you were being loyal to my Shi-chan, Nya!~ If you weren't, senjutsu master or not, I would've torn you limb from limb and use your ballsac as a cat toy." Kuroka said with a wide grin in her face, earning herself a sweat drop from the blonde shinobi.

" **It's like Matatabi in human form**." Kurama stated as Kuroka released another playful giggle. Naruto could only nod in agreement as the Nekoshou seemed to return to her usual state.

"Ah! I almost forgot why I came here. I'm part of this little organization, Nya!~ My boss is very interested in you joining us. Just say the word and I'll take you right there." The woman stated while sticking out her hand. Naruto stared at the offered hand for several seconds before chuckling softly.

"You can tell your boss that if they are so interested in me joining, they can come meet me HERE. If they can't agree to that, well they can count me out of any plans you and your group have for the future." Naruto said. Kuroka let out a disappointed mewl at the rejection before muttering under her breathe.

"Hmph, fine. She won't like that but I'll tell her it. Until we meet again, Foxy. Stay cute, Nya!~" The girl finished before disappearing in a small puff of smoke, leaving the blonde alone once again.

"Well … I can tell she is going to be troublesome in the future."

* * *

 _ **AN: Thanks everyone for reading. Review with any questions, concerns, complaints, ideas, etc. Have a wonderful day.**_


	6. Chapter 6

Ophis the infinite dragon god was born from the chaos and nothingness of the universe. From the moment it took its first breath, all it new was the silence of the world. And it enjoyed every single last second of that silence. It spent countless of years in that silence and it wouldn't trade it away for anything. And it didn't seem like it would ever have to give that up. No one ever visited the dimensional gap. Anyone that somehow made their way into the dimension was usually destroyed instantly.

Great Red seemed to be an exception to that rule. The dragon actually seemed to thrive in the turbulent environment. The dimensional gap was constantly filled with its boastful laughter as flew through the dimension. The whole experience had been rather surreal to the infinite dragon before the fact that someone had invaded it's home had finally settled into her brain.

The infinite dragon and the Great red thus entered into combat. Ophis wanted its home and silence back to herself while the Great Red wanted to continue doing its cool tricks without anyone watching him. For two beings of great and almost unimaginable powers, the argument seemed almost childish but no one was there to point that fact out.

The two dragons clashed over and over again, each battle ending in a tie. While it was a tie, it was technically a loss for Ophis as Great Red remained in its domain. This sequence of battles continued for decades until Ophis came to a sudden realization.

It couldn't beat the Great Red. No matter how powerful it thought it was, it's power could and would be met by the apocalyptic dragon. It would never regain the silence it had came to love at this rate.

This forced Ophis to come up with a solution to her problem. From her many trips into outside of the dimensional gap, Ophis knew that there were powerful beings in existence besides itself. None as powerful as her but still some were very powerful. If it managed to gather enough of these powerful beings under one banner, it could possibly beat or at least force Great Red out of the dimensional gap.

And so, the Khaos Brigade was born. Ophis went about recruiting dozens of different creatures from each of the different factions. She even recruited humans who were the descendants of heroes. It had gotten to the point where their numbers had started to reach into the hundreds but Ophis knew it was not enough. The Great Red was a being of immense power, power that could rival her own and Ophis knew it could completely wipe out the Khaos Brigade if necessary. Great Red would be able to do the same if the group went into battle. Ophis needed more, it needed something greater to fight against the dragon.

And something greater did appear. It literally ripped a hole through the dimensional gap before disappearing into the human world. But in that brief moment where the blur was in the gap, Ophis felt power. Unbelievable, overwhelming power that had actually frozen the infinite dragon in its tracks. That was power it needed. That was the power it needed to defeat Great Red and claim the dimensional gap to itself again.

So it had sent several scouts out into the human world to search for it. For the first several months, the dragon and it's scouts had absolutely no results. Ophis usually wasn't one for emotions but anger was definitely present at the lack of results. The solution to all it's problems had literally passed within a foot of it and now that power seemed to be unfindable. Ophis had almost thrown a hissy fit but had luckily been stopped when one of its best scouts brought some good news.

The source of energy had been located, in Kuoh of all places. Ophis was very well aware of Kuoh, the place was a literal hub for supernatural creatures. Devils, angels, fallen angels and even demons could be found wandering the city in broad daylight. How a war between the factions hadn't started in the middle of the city, Ophis would never know. That city was literally a melting pot for conflict.

And thus, Ophis had sent Kuroka to go convince the source to join her cause. This was partly because of two reasons. The first was because Ophis wanted to get the annoying nekoshou away. Having to deal with the playful woman every single day had started to grate on Ophis' barely developed nerves. The second reason was that the girl was surprisingly good at convincing others to join the Khaos Brigade. Ophis didn't know how she did it, and it didn't want to know how. As long as the cat got the job done, Ophis would be satisfied with whatever methods she used.

So thats why, at the moment, Ophis found herself filled with an emotion that she had been starting to know as annoyance. The infinite dragon had taken the form of a cute, young girl with hip length hair. The gothic lolita style clothing the dragon was wearing only added to her cuteness. What didn't add to the girl's cuteness was that she was actually a dragon of almost infinite power that could possibly bring about the apocalypse if she wanted. One would have to be very ignorant to look past this. Unfortunately for Kuroka, she did not have that amount of ignorance so she was currently facing the full brunt of the dragon's agitation.

"H-he demanded you c-come see him, Nya~. H-he was too powerful me for force here so I-I had no choice." Kuroka stuttered out as Ophis' power slowly spread over her. The nekoshou didn't know if the dragon girl was doing it purposefully or not but the power coming from the girl was actually starting to suffocate her.

"If I leave the gap, Great Red could try and do even more damage to my home. This is not something I want to do." Ophis stated while crossing her arms over her chest. Kuroka would've hugged the girl just out of the cuteness of the situation if she wasn't sure that the dragon would kill her for making such an action.

"W-well I don't think you he's coming any other way." Ophis stood still for several seconds before releasing a sigh. Kuroka let out a relieved sigh of her own as the power coming from the girl finally settled down.

"Leave my home." Kuroka did not hesitate to follow that order as a hole in the dimensional gap opened up behind her. The nekoshou shouted a quick goodbye before diving head first into the rift in space, leaving the infinite dragon alone.

"Looks like I'll have to handle this myself. I, shall convince this boy to join my cause and banish the Great Red." Ophis said to herself before disappearing from the gap in a bright flash of light. If only she realized that some things were easier said than done.

* * *

A light whistle carried through the early morning air in the streets of Kuoh town. Not many people were out during these early hours but there was definitely one person walking down the streets of the town.

This man had a wild mane of blonde hair with emerald green eyes. The most interesting feature about the man was the set of priest robes he wore. His lower half was covered in a pair of black jeans. His lips were pursed as a melodic tune escaped his mouth.

"It should be a bit closer. I hope I didn't show up too early, I really want to try some local sweets." The man muttered to himself before continuing his jaunty whistle. To the few citizens that were actually out and about at this time, the man definitely stood out. The priestly robes and the wild blonde hair made the man look slightly weird. He didn't care though, all he wanted was his sweets.

"Here we are." The man said with a wide smile on his face as he stopped in front of his store. His eyes went up and read the sign that stated "Uzumaki's sweets". He was happy to see the open sign being displayed in the front window. He could even see a man working behind the counter, even at these early hours. "Time to taste these sweets." And with that, the man stepped into the shop.

Naruto released yet another yawn as his eyes glanced up to his clock for what seemed like the dozenth time since he opened. Even though it had only been an hour, he was already anticipating leaving today. He was planning on closing early and meeting Koneko after school to take the girl out on a date. He figured he needed to spend some quality time with the girl since she still seemed a little miffed out at Rias the last time he saw her. Hopefully a little time together would quell the last remnants of anger in the nekoshou.

" **That energy source we felt early is closing in on us. Its not as large as the girl's from last night or Sirzechs' but it's definitely up there**." Kurama spoke out in Naruto's head. Earlier that morning, the fox and the boy had been startled awake when they felt a very pure energy source into their senses. The energy was basically the polar opposite of what he felt coming from the devils he had interacted with. While he would describe the devil's energy as dark, this energy was light.

"I've noticed. Now that the person is closer, I can get a clearer reading on their energy. Pure would be a very big understatement. The best way to describe it is cleansing … holy even. This must be an angel." Naruto mused to himself and his kitsune partner. After discovering Koneko's devil nature, Naruto had decided to do some research into the factions. Whether he wanted it to happen or not, he was involved with the supernatural world now. His girlfriend was involved in it and by extension, so was he. After all, he always looked after his precious people.

Naruto hummed to himself as the energy source came closer and closer. It seemed that whoever was the owner of this energy was heading for his shop. Whether that was to engage him or not, Naruto had yet to figure out. Though he was prepared to fight if necessary.

" **Thats our guy**." Both the tailed beast and the shinobi immediately began to examine the man who had stopped in front of the shop. Their assumption of him being an angel seemed to be spot on if the man's priestly robes were anything to go by. The spiky blonde hair and the green eyes made the stranger stand out, even in the hectic streets of Kuoh. Not much else could be deciphered from the man's appearance except for the small smile that was placed on his lips.

" **I don't sense any ill-intent from the man. Can angels even have killing intent?** " Naruto shook his head in amusement at his partner's question just as the man walked into his store. It was time for action, it seemed.

"Welcome to Uzumaki's Sweets and congratulations on being the first customer of the day." Naruto finally spoke out loud. The man's smile only seemed to grow larger as he stepped further into the shop. His eyes closed as he took a deep inhale. His smile turned seren as he opened his eyes once again, revealing his sparkling eyes.

"Thank you for the pleasure of being first, my friend. Usually I do not wake up this early but when I heard that this town had a shop dedicated to selling sweets, I just had to come myself." The man said while walking to the counter of the shop. His eyes swept over the display counters lined with rows and rows of desserts and candies. A small line of drool slowly dripped out of the man's mouth as his gaze grew more intense.

" **It's always the powerful ones that have weird food habits. You humans have always been strange. The first hokage had his sushi obsession. Mito obsessed over red bean cake, you have your ramen and even this angel has an obsession with food. What is wrong with you people**?" Naruto choose to ignore his partner as he continued to stare at the drooling man.

"Not a problem at all. What can I get you for today? Everything is guaranteed to be made fresh." By this point, the man in the priest robes had his face pressed against the display case. The man's cheek was smushed against the clear glass, giving him a rather comical appearance.

"I'll just have … hmmm… One of everything please." The sincerity in the man's voice was the only thing that stopped Naruto from kicking him out the shop immediately. No normal person just comes into the store and orders everything.

"One of everything? Are you sure about that?"

"Of course I am. I am not a man who jokes about his sweets. I want to taste single morsel of food you have available in this fine store." The man spoke with a gentle smile on his face. Naruto only hesitated for a brief second before walking to the back of his store. Seemed like this morning wasn't going to be as peaceful as he originally thought.

xXx

Naruto watched as Dulio released a loud belch after consuming the last dango stick. It had taken Naruto a full hour to prepare the entirety of his menu, with a little undercover help with his clones. And true to his word, the priestly man had eaten every single crumb of what had been cooked.

The man's eating process was very meticulous and precise, the exact polar opposite of Naruto's own eating habit. Each sweet was studied with a trained eye and explored through the sense of smell before being consumed. The priest would take his time tasting the food before finally swallowing while releasing an appreciative hum. This process continued over the course of several hours until the man had finished tasting all of the food.

During that time period, Naruto had begun talking to the man. He learned that the man's first name was Dulio and he was what he would like to call a "Wandering Priest". Apparently he travelled all around the world, offering blessings to anyone that would accept them. His passions included food, prayer and the bible. The shinobi would be lying if he said that he didn't enjoy the company of his fellow blonde. Even though the man seemed pretty devoted to his religions, he was pretty laid back. Most of the religious types that he had met around town had been somewhat stuck up when it came to having a regular conversation.

"I have to say, Naruto-san, that I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of sweets you have provided me today. For such a small shop, you have an amazing sense of quality. I'll definitely have to take some home with me now." Dulio said while leaning back in his seat.

" **Dear Kami, he wants more? How much can this man put away?** "

"Is this how I am when I'm eating ramen? Maybe I should cut back a little … Actually never mind, I can't ever cut back on my precious ramen." Kurama released a groan as his partner once again started to fantasize about ramen. Why did he even try.

"Luckily for you, I figured you would some more and I whipped up a couple of specialities for you to take with you." Naruto said as he reached under his counter before pulling out a large paper bag. The blonde haired man happily accepted the bag full of treats with a wide grin on his face while sliding a small slip of paper to Naruto.

"This check should cover everything I've eaten today. Its connected directly to the bank account of the catholic church so don't worry about the amount. The airheads up there should be able to cover all the costs." Naruto glanced down at the check and had to stop himself from choking when he saw the amount of money written on the tiny sheet of paper.

"Dulio, this is way too much. I can't accept all of this from you." The blonde haired man let out yet another smile while standing up from his chair.

"Consider it a gift from the church for all the hard work you've been doing. It was nice meeting you, Naruto-kun. I hope we meet again." Dulio said while offering his fellow blonde a two finger salute. And with that, the man in the priest robes walked out of the store and disappeared down the streets of Kuoh.

" **Your meeting with the angel faction went much better than with the devil faction. Seems a bit stereotypical that an angel would be so much kinder than a devil**." Naruto rolled his eyes at his partner's comment while walking to the front of the shop. No one had entered the shop during Dulio's visit, leaving Naruto all to himself as he flipped the Open sign to closed.

" **Closing so early**?"

"I just got paid what I would usually make in a week in a single day. I think it's okay to close up shop early. Plus I was already planning on leaving early to meet Koneko." The blonde threw his apron back behind the counter before exiting the shop.

Dulio watched from his position in the sky as the blonde-haired teen began walking away from his shop. In his hand was a dango stick and behind him, a set of ten, pure white angel wings kept him up in the air.

"Naruto Uzumaki better known as the Candy Sage in heaven. He is indeed a very interesting person. Better yet, he knows how to make some good castella. Better get back before Michael throws another hissy fit. Can't wait until the children get a chance to taste some of this stuff." The man said to himself before disappearing in a bright flash of white light.

* * *

Ophis was really beginning to hate coming in contact with other beings. Ever since she did, all she had been feeling was annoyance towards them. Great Red had annoyed her with his residency in HER home, the members of the Khaos Brigade annoyed her with their incompetence and now the citizens of this town had annoyed her.

It had been a total of six hours since the infinite dragon had arrived in Kuoh. When she arrived in the small town, she came to a realization. she didn't know the exact location of the boy. She knew he was somewhere in this town but where exactly was the question.

She also realized her mistake of taking the form of a young girl several hours ago.

"Now why don't you just come to daddy so you and him can play a little bit." Ophis let out a sigh at the man's insistence of him being her father. She was born from the infinite chaos that originally made up the entirety of the universe before the planets came into existence. The man looked to be well over thirty and had been following her for the past hour. He had managed to somehow lead the young girl down an alley where the two currently were.

"You are clearly not my father so I ask once more that you stop pestering me. If you do not stop, I will be forced to take severe actions against you." Ophis stated while staring at the man. Not a single word the girl said seemed to ring true with the man as he continued his approach towards her.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure to take care of you." The man stated before releasing a rather perverted giggle. Ophis sighed before raising her palm towards the man.

"Humans are such an annoyance." A large snake made out of a writhing, dark energy shot out from Ophis' hand and flew at the man. The poor, perverted bastard didn't even have time to scream before he was consumed whole by the snake.

"That man wasn't even worthy to be my father." The girl stated before exiting the alley. Seemed like the search would continue for the Infinite Dragon.

* * *

"You know that I could probably keep up with you at the speeds you're going right?" Koneko said while straddling Naruto's back. The nekoshou was currently riding piggyback style on her boyfriend. She was rather surprised when school ended and her boyfriend had literally swept her off of feet and took off running.

"What type of boyfriend would I be if I allowed my girlfriend to walk through the forest?"

"A weird one. A normal boyfriend wouldn't have a date in the middle of the forest."

"Well I'm not exactly normal, am I?

"No, not at all."

"You know you love it." Naruto didn't get a reply to that one, causing the boy to laugh. Not even a second later, he felt a "light" tap on his upper back that almost sent the boy off-balance. He looked over his shoulder and saw the girl looking away from im with an innocent look on her face.

That look was quickly wiped off of her face when she felt Naruto's grip on her thigh tighten. The girl didn't even have time to scream before she suddenly swung off the boy's back and into the air. The ground grew further and further away from her as she flew higher and higher into the air. Koneko finally found her breathe just as she began to descend back to the ground. The devil began to release a long string of curses as the ground grew closer and closer.

Just as Koneko was about to hit the ground, a yellow blur jumped through the air and caught the girl. The two landed in a clearing, completely free from harm.

"You're the worst." Koneko said as Naruto walked with her in his arms. The blonde haired boy only chuckled at the girl's comment while he walked to the center of the clearing.

"Stop being mad at me and look around." Surprisingly, Koneko listened to him and actually began looking around the clearing. Now that her mind wasn't clouded with mock anger towards her boyfriend, she was able to see and sense the beauty of the clearing. Every single blade of grass shone a bright, incandescent emerald green. A soft breeze rolled slowly through the clearing, slightly blowing the two occupant's hair. The trees surrounding the clearing looked tall and healthy. Their brown barks were looked to be untouched by mankind and their foliage was thick. The sun's presence was warm but not too overbearing as it hung lazily over the center of the clearing.

"The air…" Koneko said softly as she took another breath. The air was filled with such a comforting presence. It felt like her whole body was wrapped in a gentle hug and she was being cradled by mother nature herself.

"This is the true power of senjutsu. This is pure nature chakra." Naruto watched with a small smile on his face as Koneko continued to look around the clearing. Nature truly was breathtaking when you wiped away all of the taint that had collected on it.

"You...did this with senjutsu?" The girl said as she turned towards him. Naruto gave a short nod before snapping his fingers. Koneko jumped slightly when a puff of smoke erupted next to her. She looked down and her jaw almost dropped to the floor when she saw what had appeared next to her.

Laying on a picnic blanket, an entire buffet worth of Koneko's favorite food shone majestically. Everything from cheesecake to deep fried donuts were present in front of her.

"And I did this with my bare hands. I think my bare hands are just slightly bett-" Naruto didn't even get to finish his sentence before he found Koneko's lips pressed against his own as the girl latched onto the front of his body. The blonde boy didn't hesitate to return the kiss as he gently lowered the both of them to the ground. The two stayed in the embrace for almost a full minute before Naruto finally separated.

"As much as I was enjoying that, I don't want anything going to waste. So lets dig in." Koneko didn't need to be told twice as she grabbed the closest cookie next to her and began to munch on it. Naruto grabbed himself a bowl of mochi and began digging in. The couple happily ate under the sunlight, completely unaware of how hectic their lives would soon get.

* * *

"Hey little girl, are you lost? Do you know where your parents are? Someone so young shouldn't be out so late."

"I am not young, I am infinitely older than you. I was born within the chaos of the universe so I have no parents. Now leave me be."

"Now is not the time for make believe or playtime. Its already dark and I'm sure your parents are worried and searching for you."

"I will slay you if you do not leave my presence."

"You shouldn't talk to adults like that little girl. I'm sure your parents would scold you for doing that. Now come with me so we can find your parents or at least get you somewhere safe for the night." The policeman said before turning around and attempting to grab Ophis' hand. The man was surprised when he grabbed nothing. He turned his head around and saw that the little girl was already halfway down the street.

"Hey! Get back he-" Ophis twisted around as her upper body began to morph. The police man stared in shock as the upper torso of the girl transformed into a grotesque dragon-like monster made of writhing snakes. The monster stared at the office for several seconds before releasing a horrendous roar that literally blew the man onto his back. The officer's shock only escalated as the monster quickly reverted back to the young girl.

"I spared you. Leave me before I change my mind." The officer scrambled up to his feet, only giving the girl a mere glance before running in the opposite direction. Ophis watched him with a stoic look on her face before turning away.

"I'm really starting to detest humans."

* * *

Koneko's light purring drifted through the cool, nighttime air. The girl's head was placed on her boyfriend's chest while the rest of her body laid sprawled over the picnic blanket. The early moonlight shined down on the two as Naruto's hand gently stroked Koneko's head. Koneko's skin seemed to glow as the moonlight illuminated it. The couple seemed at peace as they laid surrounded by empty food containers and plates.

The moment of peace was interrupted when a red summoning seal appeared on Koneko's hand. A scowl instantly appeared on the girl's face as she recognized the gremory seal that had implanted on her. It looked as if the girl was about to dismiss it but was stopped by Naruto.

"She could really need your help. I know you're angry with her but you should never leave your friends behind." Koneko's scowl remained for several seconds before it dispersed with a soft sigh.

"I'm still angry with her." The girl stated as she rose from her rather comfortable position. Naruto rose with her and lead the girl off the small, plaid blanket. The former shinobi wrapped the girl in a small hug that helped to wipe away the tension in her shoulder.

"I know but just try to get through it. You don't want to lose a childhood friend because of a misunderstanding or anything. Try to talk it out." Koneko rolled her eyes but nodded anyways as a red seal circle appeared under her. Naruto stepped away from the girl as the red light grew brighter and brighter. The light grew brighter and brighter until Naruto couldn't even see Koneko anymore. With one final flash, the girl disappeared from the clearing.

"You know its a bit that you've been spying on a bunch of teenagers in the middle of the forest during the night." Naruto said as the picnic blanket and all the dishes disappeared in a puff of smoke. Silence was the only thing that greeted the shinobi, causing him to sigh.

With a quick flick of his wrist, three kunai appeared in his hand. The kunai were sent flying through the air at inhuman speeds towards the tree line. Not even a second later, a loud yelp rang through the clearing.

"Thats not how you're supposed to greet someone, y'know." A voice spoke out from the trees. Naruto rolled his eyes before summoning another round of kunai into his hand.

"Spying on someone isn't the proper way to greet someone either. Now come out of the trees before I make sure to hit somewhere a lot more painful."

Several tense seconds passed before Naruto saw a figure slowly fly into the air. The first thing Naruto noticed was the twelve, midnight black wings that supported the man in the air. The man's golden bangs contrasted with the rest of his black hair. His red trench coat fluttered softly in the air.

"Nice to meet you, oh wise sage. Why don't we have a quick chat?"

* * *

 _ **AN: So much happened this chapter. Ophis is lost in Kuoh, Dulio was chatting it up with Naruto, even Azazel seems to want a piece of the boy. Don't worry, there will definitely be more action for you guys next chapter. But for now, I hope you guys enjoyed this one.**_

 _ **Review or PM me with any questions, concerns, comments, etc.**_


	7. Chapter 7

"Can't we just talk it out? I like solving my problems with my words not my fist."

"You're the one who attacked me first. I haven't even attacked yet!"

"You make a good point." Naruto released a frustrated groan at the man's behavior. It had been a total of 3 minutes since he met the man and Naruto could confidently say that he was insane. The man claimed to be a pacifist yet came out of nowhere and started to attack him. The blonde shinobi honestly didn't want to fight in the clearing. He had just cleansed the area using his chakra and didn't want to ruin it again. The man in front of him, however, had no qualms when it came to throwing around giant constructs of light energy. Several trees had already fallen to the man's attack and Naruto was sure more would've been damaged if he hadn't placed an impromptu barrier around the area.

"I swear if you attack one more time, I will put you down." The winged man seemed to honestly think the situation through before a ball of light energy quickly formed in his hand. The man raised his arm up to the sky as the ball grew larger and larger.

"How about no." The man said before the ball seemed to reach the apex of it's growth. A wide smile appeared on the man's face as he threw his hands down, sending the ball of energy careening towards the ground.

Or that would've happened if Naruto hadn't stopped the man. The blonde shinobi flashed behind the winged man and slapped the man on his back. The fallen angel let out a loud yell as his arms and legs slapped together. His wings went limp as he fell straight to the ground. The blonde behind him exploded in a puff of smoke as the man smacked face first into the ground.

The real Naruto walked over from his position on the forest floor to the squirming man. A small seal tag was glowing on the man's back.

"Ah … Can't we talk this out?" The man said as Naruto stared down at the man before raising his foot. The fallen angel attempted to scream but was silenced when Naruto's foot slammed into his head, sending him into unconsciousness.

* * *

When Koneko felt herself being summoned, she had expected a lot of things. She had expected a fight against a stray devil. She had expected to be confronted by Akeno and Rias. She had even expected to have to fight against the two girls.

What she didn't expect was to appear in Rias' room with the girl being half-naked. The girl's cheeks and eyes were bright red as she stared out her bedside window. The girl didn't bother to cover her modesty as the nekoshou appeared.

"I'm glad you showed up, Koneko-chan." The red haired girl said while turning her head towards the younger girl. Koneko's face stayed stoic as the girl rose from her position on the bed and slowly walked towards her.

"I … I know recently we haven't seen eye to eye. We've been arguing and fighting … and … I just would like to apologize for that." Koneko's mask of stoicism finally broke at the girl's apology. She watched as the girl's head dropped to towards the ground. Rias' body began to shudder as the red-headed girl released several whimpers.

"I know I haven't been a good friend. I just wanted to protect you. We've been so close, ever since we've been children and when it started to feel like we weren't anymore … I just acted. With everything that had been going on … Raiser, the clan, the fallen angels … I wasn't thinking straight. I didn't mean to upset you. I didn't mean to offend you. I didn't mean to invade your privacy … I just wanted to protect you, Shiro-chan." Koneko froze as the girl in front of her spoke her true name. She hadn't been called that name in years. That name brought up so many painful memories and experiences that she had tried so hard to repress. All those memories were now resurfacing and assaulting the small girl's mind.

All those memories stopped when Koneko felt a pair of arms wrap around her body. She looked down and saw the Gremory heiress enveloping her in a hug. The girl's cheeks were red and streaming with tears as the girl shuddered continuously.

"I'm so sorry, can you please forgive me?" Rias muttered while clinging onto the smaller girl. Koneko stood there, frozen in shock as her king begged for her forgiveness. She had grown up with this girl and she could use a lot of words to describe the Gremory clan member. Prideful, selfish, mischievous, manipulative, those were words she would use to describe the girl at times. The heiress had a stubborn streak a mile long and hated losing or being proven wrong. So to have that same stubborn, selfish little girl that she had grown up now be hugging her while begging for forgiveness, it was a very experience.

Koneko was snapped out of her musings when Rias' shuddering grew to an even greater level. The girl was now freely crying into the younger girl's shoulder. Koneko began to find it harder and harder to stay mad at the girl as the tears continued to come out.

The last bit of her resentment left as the girl collapsed onto her knees. Koneko let out a small sigh before slowly wrapping her arms around the girl. The two remained in the embrace for several long minutes while Rias' crying slowly toned down. After a full ten minutes, Rias slowly separated from the embrace while looking the nekoshou in the eye.

"Does this mean you forgive me?" Koneko had to release yet another sigh when she saw the amount of hope and wanting in the girl's eyes. The young nekoshou rolled her eyes before speaking.

"Yes, I forgive you. Just please stop crying." Rias' face instantly split into a wide grin as she enveloped the younger girl in a much larger and more compassionate hug. Koneko could only sigh once again and bear the brunt of the girl's excitement.

"I wonder what Naru-kun is doing right now? I wonder if he thinks I made the right decision."

* * *

"Look, I really am a peaceful guy. I was justing testing you out man." Naruto groaned as the blonde haired man continued to make excuses. The winged man was bound against a large oak tree while Naruto sat not to far away from him.

Naruto had retreated deeper into the forest after "knocking the man out". It turns out that the man wasn't actually knocked out, he was merely faking it. Naruto had first thought the man was just making excuses for being knocked out so easily but after the supposed angel revealed his name and origin, the man's claims started to have some ground to stand on.

This man claimed to be Azazel. Just that name alone meant something to Naruto. The blonde haired shinobi had read parts of the bible and knew the Azazel was commonly referred to as a fallen angel. The man's black wings and crazed personality seemed to be a fit for the title "fallen angel".

It was the second part of the man's introduction that made Naruto groan. Apparently Azazel was the governor of the entirety of the fallen angel population. On top of that, he was also the supreme leader of a group made from fallen angels, exiled church members and something called a "sacred gear" user.

"Testing me for what? I haven't done anything to alert any supernaturals of my presence." At this, Naruto stopped his pacing. He turned to the tied up man and began to stare at him intensely causing Azazel to roll his eyes.

"It wasn't anything you did per say more like how you came in." Now it was Naruto's turn to raise an eyebrow. "Oh dont play dumb, its obvious you are not of this world. You don't reek of devil taint and you don't seem like an uptight, breast hating angel. I would know if you were a fallen angel. And if you were a descendant of a hero, I would be able to see your lineage just from your appearance. Plus, when you entered this world, you released a LOT of energy. I wouldn't be surprised if every single faction is on your ass right now." Naruto released a frustrated groan as he collapsed dramatically to the ground. The fallen angel watched curiously as the boy laid completely still on his back.

"Is what he saying is true?" Naruto mentally asked his kitsune partner. The teenage boy waited several seconds for response only to hear light snores. The shinobi wanted to scream out in frustration as his partner's snore continue to rang clear in his head.

" **Forget about that loser, I can help you**!" Naruto almost jumped up in shock as a new voice spoke in his head. At first, he didn't recognize the slightly slurred and crazed tone but after several seconds of recognition, it finally clicked.

"Shukaku?"

" **The one and only. Old brother is taking a nap because he's a lazy jackass so the amazing Shukaku will be helping you today**." Naruto had to hold in a chuckle from the bijuu's wild talk, causing Azazel to shot him a curious glance.

" **Shut your damn mouth and be quiet. People are attempting to sleep in here**." Naruto's shock was reawakened when he heard yet another voice rang out in his head. It only took a split second for the boy to recognize this voice as it began to engage in an argument with the one tailed beast.

" **You stay out of this Son. No one wants your red ass here anyway. Why don't you go back to eating your bananas, you dumb monkey**." Naruto could feel his skin began to heat up as Son's anger became more and more intense.

" **Shut your sand filled mouth, you crazy overgrown rat. I will not be insulted by anyone, especially you. Try coming back and talking to me when you have a grip on reality**."

" **HEY! Im perfectly sane. My outlook on the world is just a lot more unique than how you view it,** _ **Sonny**_." Naruto wanted to laugh at the nickname given to the five tailed beast but he was pretty sure doing that would only fuel the Bijuu's anger. Instead, he continued to listen to the two "brothers" argue and bicker.

" **Don't you dare call me that name. I'll turn you into a damn sandbox if you say it again**."

" **Sonny~ Sonny~ Hey Sonny, do you like your eggs sunny side up? Do you like the summer because it's always sunny? How muc** -" The one tailed beast was interrupted when Son released a loud battle cry. Naruto couldn't see what was going on but from the sounds coming from the two, he could only guess the two were now wrestling with each other.

" **Get your hand out of my stomach, you pervert**!"

" **That doesn't even make any sense. How about you stop becoming intangible, you dirty sand rat**." And with that, the wrestling began anew. Neither one seemed to be actually attempting to do any lasting damage as they were just using their physical strength. Sony seemed to have the upper hand if Shukaku's screams were anything to go by.

"Meh, Meh, my brothers can be so troublesome." Yet again, a new voice spoke out inside Naruto's mind. This new voice had a noticeably feminine tone to it.

"Is that you Matatabi-chan?" In the background, a loud series of crashes could be heard as the two bijuu continued to wrestle. The two tailed beast let out a small sigh before addressing her container.

"Yes its me. I heard my siblings arguing down here and wanted to see what the big issue was. I wasn't too surprised to see the two arguing like little kids." A loud screech reached Naruto's ears. Sony's laughter could be heard very shortly after the screech.

"Well while you are here, can you do a quick scan of my body? Apparently I've been leaving a trail of my chakra around that's making it pretty hard to stay hidden in this city." The cat-like being let out a thoughtful hum before going quiet for several seconds. All Naruto could hear was the sounds of destruction being created by the rampaging bijuu in the background.

" **This man is right. A small amount of excess chakra has been leaking from you. Normally, in our world, this would go completely unnoticed. Large amounts of chakra was constantly being pushed into the air every single second of the day. Every single living being had chakra back in our world. Here, things are different. Chakra is nowhere near as prominent. Even the smallest traces of it stand out. Anyone that knows of chakra and knows how to sense it could possibly track you and find you if given enough time**." Naruto mentally cursed at the new information. This would make staying hidden much harder to do.

"I'll deal with that after I finish with this guy. Thanks Maa-chan for the info."

"Not a problem at all Naru-kun. If you need me, I'll be disciplining these two for waking me up." Naruto had to hold in another round of laughter as the cat released a loud battle cry and jumped into the fray. A new bout of screams filled Naruto's mindscape as Matabi began to beat her siblings.

"And people have the nerve to call me crazy." Naruto was snapped out of his small trance by the fallen angel's voice. The blonde haired shinobi rolled his eyes at the comment while walking towards the fallen angel.

"So … Azazel. You have my attention now. What do you want?" The man's face slowly morphed into a small smile as he looked the blonde boy in the eye.

"All I want is a fishing partner and some nice conversations."

* * *

Ophis' eyes scanned over the destroyed section of the forest. A large section of trees had been completely wiped from existence. Huge chunks of the earth were gone. Giant gashes were cut into the remaining trees while a multitude of misplaced branches and leaves were scattered around the small clearing.

"He was here … I can sense him. That same energy." The infinite dragon said to herself as she examined the clearing.

The small girl was so caught up in her examination of the clearing that she didn't notice the small herd of deer that had wandered into the clearing. The deer had noticed her though as they slowly made their way up to the powerful being.

Ophis looked down at her hip when she felt a small prod on it. She was slightly surprised to see a young buck poking its nose against her leg. The dragon gave a small scoff before redirecting her attention back at the clearing.

The young deer didn't seem to get the message as it continued to push its head against Ophis. The dragon let out a small sigh before raising its hand. The deer watched as the petite hand went up to the sky before quickly descending towards it.

A loud crack spread through the clearing as the limp body of the deer went sailing across the clearing. Ophis watched as the carcass slammed into one of the remaining trees in the clearing before falling to the ground.

"It should've went away." The young girl said as she turned to leave the clearing and continue her journey. She was stopped, however, when she heard a loud series of growling.

The girl's head turned and she was unexcited to see a small herd of deer angrily growling at her. It seemed that the death of one of their children had angered the herd. Each one of their deer were breathing heavily while lowering their antlers towards Ohpis.

"Do not make me kill you as well." The deer paid no attention to the girl's word as they charged at her. Ophis released a sigh as a portion of her powers manifested in her hands.

So troublesome." And with that, the clearing exploded in a large blast of dark energy.

* * *

"There's a lot of things going on in this world that you are unaware of. A lot of moves going on in the background that may or may not involve you in the future." Azazel said casually while sending his fishing reel into the water. The blonde shinobi and the fallen angel were sitting in a simple wooden boat that was floating aimlessly in what looked to be a large lake.

Naruto, after several minutes of inner debate, had decided to let go of the man and "go fishing". The boy was sure he could restrain the man if he attempted to do anything tricky plus he was curious on what information the man held.

"Well that's rather obvious. I didn't expect this world to be filled with devils, angels and fallen angels. I'm only just hitting the surface on all of this. I need more information." The blonde stated with a clear amount of agitation in his voice.

As a shinobi who had been on his fair share of missions gone bad, Naruto knew that having information was key, no matter what situation you were going into. His mission in wave was a prime example for that. Tazuna didn't tell Team 7 that he was being hunted down by Gato and Kakashi, Sasuke, Sakura and even himself had almost died several times during that mission. Because of the lack of information, Team 7 went in under-powered and completely unprepared. And that almost cost them their lives.

"I want you to tell me everything you know. I need to know." Azazel's eyes narrowed while the smile on his face grew. Naruto could already sense the man's intention before a word even left the fallen angel's lips.

"I want you to work wit-"

"No." Azazel's smile immediately fell form his face at the denial of his request. The grown man crossed his arms and began to pout, giving him a rather strange appearance.

"You didn't even let me to finish my sentence." Naruto crossed his own arms as he gave the fallen angel a stern stare.

"If it involves working with you and your faction, my answer is no. I'm still sure I can't completely trust you and I know for sure that you have some ulterior motives. Your body language literally screams it." Azazel's pouting reached even higher levels at the biting remark. Naruto had to hold in a shiver at the sight of a grown man whining and pouting like a child.

"I'm a good guy, I swear! After all, I was an angel. I was made to be good."

"WAS is the key word. You're no longer an angel. I read up on fallen angels. You guys lose your status as holy beings when you indulge in sin. I wonder what sin made you fall. Did you kill someone, steal something important? Stealing? Being envious?" Azazel's pouting disappeared at Naruto's questioning. A dark look covered the man's face as he began to chuckle manically.

"I am one of the original fallen angel. My fall had an aftershock that was felt through the entirety of the seven heavens. My sin was so great that I was one of the first that God made fall. My sin was…" Naruto gently leaned in as the man gave a small pause. Curiosity had claimed the boy at the fallen angel's dramatic tone.

"I coveted the very thing no angel ever should. Breast! Wonderful, fluffy, meaty, silky, jiggly breast. My love and want for breast far surpassed anything that my former holy nature could contain. I knew that each handful of breast held an almost infinite amount of possibilities and power that was just waiting to be unlocked. God knew this as well and made me fall. That bastard!" The blonde shinobi stared at the dark haired man in silence for several seconds. Azazel seemed to be completely wrapped up in his own speech as the man didn't see the younger male walking towards him with his arm pulled back. He didn't even sense him when Naruto was standing only a foot away.

He did sense him, however, when Naruto slapped him upside the head, sending the fallen angel down to the ground. The man's mad rambling about breast was now being silenced by the wonderful piece of ground that had found its way into his mouth. Naruto was standing above the man with an agitated look on his face while staring down at the perverted angel.

"I think I was cursed since birth by kami to be surrounded by perverts. I can never get away from them." Naruto mumbled to himself as the man below him started to mumble about breast while slowly climbing to his feet. Azazel ascension was brought to a halt when Naruto's foot slammed into his back, sending him face first into the ground once again.

"I see you are one of the breasts haters. You are no better than God himself! He didn't understand my love for breast and made me fall. Now you have done the same! You are all terrible." The man sprung up to his feet and shouted at the blonde haired boy while pointing an accusing finger. Naruto gave the man a deadpanned look before slapping the finger away.

"I can no longer take you seriously. I don't even know how you're a leader of anything with that type of behavior, Ero-datenshi."

"Don't call me that. I am a well-respected general of the fallen angel army and my name is feared by both devil and angel-kind. You should call me Azazel or Azazel-sama if you want to impress me."

"I think I'll stick with Ero-datenshi."

"Dont call me th-"

"Is Ero-datenshi getting upset?"

"Listen here you br-"

"Ero-datenshi, you agitation is showing you, perv."

"I WILL KI-"

"Calm your nerves Ero-datenshi, I'm just messing with you. You don't have to hide your perversion around me." If looks could kill, Naruto would be dead nine times over as he continued to play on the fallen angel's nerves. The man's eyes were dangerously narrowed as they were aimed at the snickering blonde.

"If you're finished with your jokes, maybe we can get back to the main topic."

"My answer is still no Ero-datenshi."

"DAMN YOU BR-" The man suddenly froze as a large energy wave rode washed over the him. Naruto froze as well as his sensing abilities picked up on the energy as well. The energy was originated from the spot where he first encountered the fallen angel in front of him. It was strong and very dark. Not the corrupted darkness that the fallen angels had or the type that the devil had but a numbing and all consuming darkness that he had never felt before.

"The dragon…" Naruto's head turned back to the Grigori general as the man let out a small mumble. The playfulness had drained from the man's face as he looked off into the distance with a serious look etched on his face.

"A dragon?" Azazel turned towards the blonde haired boy while nodding his head.

"This is part of what I meant when I said there are things going on in this world that may shock you. There's a being in this world called the infinite dragon. No one knows for sure but its rumored that the dragon has been in existence since the creation of this world. Its powers are unrivaled by any human, devil, angel or fallen angel. It usually lives in the gap that separates the different dimensions of this universe but for some reason, its here now."

"Hmmm, sounds pretty interesting." Azazel's head snapped back towards the blonde with an incredulous look on his face.

"Did you hear anything I just said? Even I wouldn't be able to last long against that beast."

"Didn't I just beat you in a battle?" The shinobi pointed out.

"I let myself get captured so I could get closer to you and sway you to my side, of course!" Naruto's deadpan look made it rather obvious to the fallen angel that he didn't believe the older man. Azazel let off a small pout at the blonde's face before turning away from him, causing the blonde to let out an agitated sigh.

"Well while you sit here and mope, I'll be going to this "infinite dragon". Someone has to make sure that this "dragon" doesn't destroy anything." Before Azazel could say anything, the blonde boy flashed away from the boat, sending the small, wooden watercraft tipping over, which sent the fallen angel into the cold waters below. The fallen angel splashed wildly in the water for several seconds before finding a small grip on turned over boat to haul himself up with.

"I can already tell I'm going to hate that brat."

* * *

AN: _ **Before I even get to my usual Author's note speech, I would like to point some things out. This story has 2.2k favorites, 2.5k followers, 1k+ reviews and is apart of over 25 communities. In 3 months. 3 MONTHS. DO YOU REALIZE HOW CRAZY THAT IS? We are in the top 20 most popular stories in this section. In such a short time, that is honestly amazing. I want to thank every single one of you. Whether you read and just enjoyed the story, read and decided to follow and favorite, or left a review, thank you. I appreciate every single last one of you.**_

 ** _Okay now some stuff about this chapter. Some of you may be wondering about Azazel and what role he'll play in this world. Do not worry, you'll definitely see more interaction between him and Naruto later in the story. I honestly like the man's personality and the fact that his considered insane in the manga/anime. I'll be playing around with that a bit._**

 ** _Now before any of you get on me for making Koneko forgive Rias so quickly, I would just like to point out that if you found your friend half-naked and crying while begging your forgiveness, you would feel a bit more inclined to forgive them to._**

 _ **I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. If you have any questions, please review or leave a PM. I'll be responding to all PMs around 8 o'clock EST tonight. Hope you all have a good day.**_


	8. Chapter 8

**VERY IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE: I highly recommend that you read the following before you start reading the chapter. It will help with your understanding of the chapter and the upcoming shit-fest you're about to read.**

 **So coming into this chapter, you guys all knew that Naruto would be facing against Ophis. Because of this, I got a lot of suggestions for the battle. Some of these suggestions dealt with the power levels when it came to both Naruto and Ophis. I got people pming me, yelling about how Naruto in just his sage mode could beat Ophis. I had people yelling at me to make sure Naruto lose because he is fighting a God. I had absolutely every angle that this chapter could've thrown at me by my beautiful fans.**

 **One of the constants I saw were people recommending that I read the "fairy tail dragon slayer's" power sheets to get an accurate judgement of his power. I read it and honestly didn't find much merit in them when it came to this story. If i had followed along with the information he used, this battle would be extremely boring. Instead, I decided to go 'with my own flow". I sincerely hope you guys enjoy the fight scene and the chapter over all.**

 **"I'm an evil demon, short and stout. Here is my tail and here is my snout" - Tailed Beast, Kurama talking**

 _ **"Stop! Hammer time!" Synchronization**_

* * *

"You … are definitely not what I expected out of a dragon." Naruto's voice was quite clear in the small forest clearing. The crisp, night time air blew softly against the blonde-haired boy's form. He was standing completely upright as he faced his future opponent.

"I could say the same about you." Ophis frostily said while staring at the shinobi. A mere 10 meters separated the duo as they stood in the same clearing that the brutal slaughtering of the deer had taken place, a fact that Naruto was slowly becoming aware of. Evidence of the killing could be seen in the random splotches of blood and flesh that were splattered on the tree trunks and the ground.

"So you are indeed the "Infinite dragon God". Nice to finally meet ya!" The chippy tone in the teen's voice threw Ophis for a slight loop. Wasn't this the same boy who had been running from her for the past several days? Why did he sound so happy?

"..Nice to meet you as well.." The young girl said hesitantly. Naruto nodded at the greeting before taking a look around the clearing. His eyes immediately locked on to the blood splatters that could be seen clearly in the night.

"So, you mind telling me what happened here? Seemed like someone made quite a mess." Naruto said while placing both his hands behind his neck. Ophis stared strangely at the boy for a mere second before indulging in his request.

"I merely got rid of an annoyance. However, I grow tired of this banter. I came here with a purpose and that purpose does not include this mindless talking." Ophis voice was frost-like in tone as she stared down the boy in front of her. His lackadaisical demeanor did not shift in slightest by the harsh tone used by the dragon. If anything, the shinobi seemed to be amused by the girl's tone.

"Oh, is that true? Well why don't you tell me what this purpose of yours is." The light-hearted tone used by the boy lit a tiny spark of irritation inside Ophis' mind. He still wasn't taking her seriously.

"My home has been invaded by a pest going by the name of the Great Red. I require your assistance in driving this beast from the dimensional gap. In return for your services, I will reward with a great power that will allow you to rival a god." Ophis finished off by flaring a bit of her power.

Naruto stared silently at the girl for several seconds before unfolding his hands from behind his head. The boy's smile grew softer as his eyes locked with Ophis'.

"Nah, I'll pass." The casual tone and smile that the boy had had honestly made Ophis doubt he heard him correctly. She honestly hadn't expected for the boy to be denied.

"I warn you, if you refuse I will have to kill you. So I ask once again, will you join me in my conquest to banish Great Red from the dimensional Gap? "

"My answer is still nope." Anger at the denial began to slowly boil inside the dragon as she looked on the lax blonde. Tiny wisps of her power began to flow around her form as her self-control began to wane.

"Very well. If that's the decision you have made, so be it." Ophis casually raised her arm as a dark ball of energy formed in her hand. Naruto had no time to even examine the foreign energy before a small snake exited the ball and came shooting towards the blonde. The speed at which the snake was travelling at was enough to even surprise the blonde-haired shinobi. Fortunately for his health, he managed to quickly get over his astonishment and dodged the agile reptile by side-stepping the attack.

Unseen by the blonde, the snake quickly turned towards the blonde's back in mid-air once the blonde dodged its initial assault. The creature released a sort of strangled hiss from its mouth before flying at Naruto's neck and sinking it's teeth into it.

Ophis watched in a mixture of boredom and slight disappointment as the blonde began to writhe and scream in pain. The boy's skin began to crack and rip apart as his body failed to contain the almost limitless power of the infinite dragon god. The blonde attempted to rip and tear as his skin as more and more the power poured into its body.

"I must now restart my search. How troublesome." Ophis muttered as the boy's body exploded in a large mass of black snakes that slowly slithered their way back to their master. The girl was so sure of her victory that she didn't even notice that the same boy that she had just "killed" was now standing behind her. She quickly became aware of this fact when Naruto's fist slammed into her jaw.

Now Naruto knew that he wasn't the physically strongest person in his world. Rock Lee, Guy, Kisame, Bee and A were all perfect examples of shinobi who, in his base form, could utterly humiliate him in a strength contest. They niche was strength and they mastered that aspect of combat to a T. But that didn't mean he was weak by any measure when he wasn't in his six sage paths mode, using Kurama's chakra or accessing senjutsu. His speed and strength were still ranked in the level of a kage.

That's why the blond was very surprised when the girl in front of him didn't even flinch when his fist impacted against her cheek. If anything, the girl seemed to actually be relieved that he was alive and fighting back.

"I'm glad to see you're at least making this somewhat interesting." The girl muttered as Naruto jumped away from her body. Azazel's warning was repeating itself in Naruto's head as the small girl casually turned towards the boy and began to look him up and down.

"How did you manage to avoid my first attack? My snake detected no abnormalities when it bit into you."

"Oh, it's really a lot simpler than you would imagine. First you simply mol-" Ophis' focus was taken off the boy when she felt another force slam into her cheek. This time, the force was much stronger, strong enough to actually lift the girl from off of her feet. The dragon god's feet left the ground as she went sent flying across the clearing and slamming head first through a tree.

"That's gonna get her angry. That's gonna get her very, very angry." Naruto muttered to himself as he felt a build-up of the same dark energy come from near the broken tree. Not even a second later, the remnants of the tree exploded into a countless number of wooden shards as Ophis rose back onto her feet. A dark bruise that was quickly healing could be seen on the girl's face alongside a small grin. A small amount of amusement could be seen dancing along the girl's lips as she focused her stare on the blonde boy.

"You're one of the few people who have actually managed to harm me, even if it's in this weak form. You should feel proud of that." The energy surrounding Ophis grew more intense as she took several short strides towards the blonde. Naruto quickly summoned several kunai in his hand and sent them flying towards the girl. The shinobi was met with immediate disappointment as he watched his kunai dissolve on contact with the energy.

"Better make sure I avoid that." Naruto muttered to himself as a large snake manifested itself from out of Ophis' energy. The snake leveled it's head towards Naruto, shooting a dark gaze at the boy. Its eyes were glowing red as it wrapped itself around the body of its owner.

"It's like if Orochimaru had a daughter with a creepy dragon. Definitely not a good combination." The snake released a loud screech into the night-time air before charging towards Naruto. The snake's speed was almost blinding as it reached the boy in under a second. The snake unhinged it's jaw before snapping it shut around the shinobi … or what was actually a log. Unseen by the snake, Naruto once again escaped the creature's wrath with a quick use of the replacement technique.

Ophis' attention was quickly brought towards the ground when she heard several thumps beneath her. Her eyes immediately fell upon the bladed weapons that had a strange piece of paper wrapped around it. The piece of paper sizzled as it slowly ate itself up.

"How curi-" Before the girl could finish her sentence, the handmade paper tag exploded in a brilliant fireball. Naruto, from his position almost a hundred yards away, whistled appreciatively as the giant flame reached its way up towards the sky.

"May of overdone it a bit with those explosive tags." Naruto said as the flames continued to reach higher and higher into the sky. He had taken out a small portion of the forest with that explosion.

"Think otherwise." Naruto's eyes widened dramatically when he heard a feminine voice behind him. Before he could even react, he felt a strong force wrap around his body. The teen had to hold in a scream as he felt his body begin to suddenly burn.

"We're going somewhere where you can't run. I need to see your full capabilities." Ophis said, completely unharmed from his last attack, as she looked upon her captured prey. The snake construct she made earlier had wrapped its body around the blonde and was constricting the boy's movement.

Before his very eyes, Naruto watched as the air began to distort. The distortion started off small, almost unnoticeable at first, but quickly grew larger and larger. Before long, the air was rippling violently as if it was attempting to rip itself apart. The process continued for several seconds before everything in the clearing grew still.

Without warning, a large portal ripped itself into existence in the middle of the clearing. Naruto didn't even manage to take a good look at the rip in time and space before he found himself thrust face first into it.

"You won't be able to run from me here. This is my home." Ophis muttered to herself before stepping into the portal. The tear closed up after her, leaving the clearing in silence once again.

* * *

"I feel like Gai just body slammed me into the Hokage monument." The blonde released a groan as he slowly picked himself up off the ground. While he was pulling himself off of the strange material, he noticed the tell-tale signs of his tailed beast mode surrounding him.

"I don't remember activating this."

" **That's because I did it for you.** " A small smile popped on Naruto's face when he heard the voice of his partner ring out in his head.

"I'm glad to see you're awake, sleeping beauty. I was beginning to wonder if you just went up and died in your sleep."

" **Whatever. I'm glad to see you still need me to help you fight your battles. What in the hell did you get yourself into now? Just the atmosphere of this place would have seriously harmed or even killed you if I hadn't activated the tailed beast mode.** " A frown appeared on Naruto's face at this information. This was the dragon's home and just being in it was enough to kill him in his base form. He would have to be careful maneuvering his way through here.

"Apparently I'm in a fight with a dragon god who wants my help in taking back her home from another dragon. So basically, same old stuff." Kurama snorted at how utterly nonchalant the boy was acting about the situation. In all honesty, he shouldn't of been that surprise. This was Naruto he was talking about after all.

"Though, this place is beautiful. I can see why she would want to fight for it. Just wish I didn't get dragged into it." The dimensional gap truly was a beautiful place. Countless amounts of vibrant colors danced around the blonde. There seemed to be no end in site to the beautiful background.

" **Trouble always seems to find you, no matter where you go. By the way, you may want to get out the way**." Naruto looked up and saw the same snake from before shooting towards him. Tired and slightly agitated from his trip, Naruto quickly summoned a rasengan in his hand before jumping towards the beast. The blonde crossed the distance between the two in a matter of a second as he thrust his arm towards the snake. The spiraling sphere of chakra slammed into the snake's head, stopping it in it's track. The creature released a loud scream as the chakra sphere carved its way into its body. Before long, the snake could not keep its form together and was forced to dissipate due to the damage that had been done to it.

" **Don't think it's over**." Naruto twisted his body and yet another snake, this one much larger and quicker, heading towards him. The blonde released a load groan before bracing himself for the impact.

The snake slammed head first into Naruto's awaiting hands. The boy latched onto the beast's jaw, keeping it shut as the beast attempted to swallow the boy whole. Naruto's own chakra and the strange energy the snake was made up of seemed to be in a sort of power struggle as Naruto continued to restrain the beast.

The power struggle quickly turned in Naruto's favor when a shadow clone appeared behind the snake. The clone grabbed onto the snake's tail before pulling on the beast's rear, sending it whipping away from the original and high into the air. The snake released a loud hiss as it was forced airborne. Before the beast could gain control of itself, several clones appeared above it with their legs raised high into the air. In perfect unison, the clones brought their legs down on the snake's body, reversing its full momentum. The reptile was now streaking towards the ground as the full force of several Naruto clones fueled it's descent.

The snake slammed mercilessly into the earth, cracking and splintering the ground beneath it. The creature let loose a soft hiss as it attempted to crawl its way out of the mini-crater it had just made. Its retreat was stopped when several over-sized shuriken slammed into its body. The snake's movement became erratic as it tried squirm its way out from under the weapons. Unfortunately for the snake, it ended up losing the battle as it was forced to disperse due to the damage that had been done to its body.

" **Don't want to alarm you but there is another snake heading your way**." A large scowl appeared on Naruto's face as he looked at the sky and saw Ophis forming another snake from her body. An agitated growl ripped its way through the teen's voice as he saw the creature began to grow larger and larger.

"I'm tired of these goddamn snakes." Naruto muttered to himself as six magenta quickly settled on his body, indicating that he was now in his six paths sage mode. The boy's narrowed yellow eyes were focused on the God. Two chakra arms materialized out of Naruto's back as the boy's feet slowly lifted from the ground. A massive rasengan appeared between the two chakra arms as Naruto took off flying towards the dragon god.

"His power … It's grown even greater." Ophis thought to herself as she watched the blonde's new form dance around his body. The two new arms that had sprouted out of the ninja's body were interesting but nothing too out of the norm … well at least when it came to Ophis. On the other hand, the giant sphere of chakra was something the dragon would definitely like to avoid.

"Rasen-absorption!" Ophis was caught off guard when a new arm came shooting out of Naruto's back and grabbed her by the waist. Before the dragon could react, the chakra arm guided her lithe form into the giant rasengan, slamming the small girl into the S-rank jutsu. Ophis had to actually hold in a small grunt of pain as she felt the attack grind into her body. The sphere of chakra had broken through the layers of her skin and were now grinding against pure nerve and muscle. This had been one of the first time the dragon god had ever been injured in her human form. The fact it had been by a human made the surprise even more shocking.

"Impressive." A brief look of shock crossed Naruto's face when he heard the same monotone voice speak out from above him. The girl should've been screaming and yelling in pain while the rasengan shredded every layer of her skin, muscle, nerves and bones. Instead, she was just casually remarking on the power of his attack.

" **Get out of there**!" Kurama's warning came too late as Ophis' made her move. The same dark energy from before surrounded the girl's body, causing the rasengan to destabilize. The injuries that had been inflicted on her only a couple of seconds ago were completely healed in an instance. The sphere of chakra that had just been attacking the girl now dissipated uselessly into the air as Naruto could no longer keep its form.

Before the blonde could retreat away from the girl, a large shock wave emitted from the girl. The shock wave slammed into the boy's body, throwing him backwards for hundreds of yards. Naruto's chakra arms were ripped from his body as the force behind the attack ripped through the blonde's body.

Naruto's flight came to a rather messy stop when his body impacted against the ground. The shinobi slid for an extra dozen yards as he went tumbling along the ground. He finally came to a stop when his back slammed mercilessly into an old ruin, sending it crumbling to the ground and on top of the blonde.

"I feel like Gai, Tsunade, A and Madara mule-kicked me in the chest." Naruto's audible groan could be heard as he pushed the debris off of himself. The boy could feel his bones mending themselves back together from the damage that had been done by the attack.

" **I told you to get out of there**."

"If your warnings could come just a little bit sooner, that would be so much more helpful."

" **Well here's a new one, there's a massive buildup of energy coming from the girl right now. You better look out.** " Naruto's head turned towards the girl, eliciting another groan from the boy at what he saw.

The dark energy that the girl possessed was now surrounding her body in the ethereal form of a snake. A snake that was close to a hundred meters long and had the wings of an European style dragon. Rows of midnight black scales could be seen faintly glowing along the construct's body. It's eyes were glowing a dark purple as it's gaze was settled on Naruto.

"Kurama..."

" **Yup**."

"Full synchronization?"

" **Yup**."

"Glad we're on the same page." Naruto's clapped his hands together as he closed his eyes. In his mindscape, the nine-tailed beast was in a similar position as the two partners began to sync their minds and powers together.

Ophis watched from within her construct curiously as the energy around the boy began to fluctuate. The cloak the boy had donned was now changing in size and shape. Two rabbit ears appeared on Naruto's head as his feet once again left the ground. His chakra cloak continued to grow as the boy flew higher and higher into the air.

" _ **Synchronization complete! Nine-tails chakra mode: Tailed Beast Transformation!**_ " Naruto's voice took on a much deeper and guttural tone as Kurama's chakra flowed freely and fully through his body. The untamed power of the strongest tailed beast was now under his control.

" _ **This form always feels the weirdest. I feel like I have the biggest sugar high in the world yet my mind is as clear as ever**_." Naruto muttered to himself while giving his muscles a small flex. Every fiber of his body was currently being pumped with the purified bijuu Chakra.

" **Less talking, more focus on fighting the giant dragon in front of us**. **It's time to stretch my limbs.** " Kurama's voice was an echo in the blonde's mind. This was the tailed beast's favorite form. No limits, no hiding behind a seal, no distractions. Just his partner and him going all out at their full strength.

" _ **Right**_." Naruto stated before slamming his fist together, flaring his chakra to its highest point while sending a powerful shock wave out from his position. Waves of dust and debris were picked off from the ground and sent into the air by the wave.

"This power…" Ophis muttered after she was forced to stabilize herself from the force of the blast. This wasn't anything like what she expected. The power she had originally felt coming from the boy was just the tip of the iceberg. What she was feeling right now completely outshone everything she had felt before.

Ophis was snapped out of her musings when she saw an orange flash appear out the corner of her eye. The girl attempted to turn her head, and by extension her construct's body, but was too slow to avoid the massive right hook that slammed into her construct's body.

Just because she couldn't see the punch didn't mean she didn't feel it. This hit was much more powerful than Naruto's initial strikes. The punch threw the dragon's construct off balance as it went rocketing down towards the ground. The dragon slammed into the ground, sending dust up into the air as it cracked the ground underneath it.

" _ **Fox beats snake all the time! Believe it!**_ " The happy tone mixed with the boy's rather rough sounding tone made for a strange combination that would've creeped out most people. Fortunately for Naruto, he only had an audience for one and that one was currently face first in the ground … or so he thought.

" **Dodge right, NOW!** " Naruto didn't hesitate at all as he quickly forced his construct's body to the right. Not even a second later, a highly concentrated beam of Ophis' energy came blasting by Naruto. Even though he had dodged the blast, the blonde was forced to cover his face by the sheer force of it.

" **Do not get hit by that! Do not!** " Kurama screamed as a continuous salvo of energy blast coming shooting from Ophis' mouth and towards Naruto. The blonde made good use of his construct's agility as he dodged each of the blast.

" **She's preparing something big. Get to her before she can let it off.** " With a single nod, Naruto leapt into action. The blonde sidestepped yet another one of Ophis' breath attacks before taking off towards the girl. Several over sized snakes crawled from out of Ophis' construct as the girl took several steps back. The snakes immediately went slithering towards Naruto as their creator prepared her attack.

The snakes leapt towards the dashing Naruto with their jaws ready to bite into the boy and his partner. Without a single word needed to be uttered, one of construct's tails came shooting forward and pierced the first snake's skull, forcing it to disperse.

Another snake tried its hand at attacking the boy. Another one of Naruto's tail came forward and wrapped around the approaching snake. The snake was raised towards the Avatar's mouth before the jaw closed down on it, ripping the snake construct apart. The snake let out a strangled hiss as it's now bisected body fell to the floor before dispersing into a countless number of much smaller snakes.

The final snake didn't even manage to make its move as an impromptu tailed beast bomb slammed into it. Poor snake.

" **Brace yourself!** " Kurama's voice roared out in Naruto's head. The blonde felt a quick wind shift coming from his right, alerting him to the presence of something massive. The boy drove all nine of his tails into the ground before turning, just in time to take the full impact of Ophis' charge.

It was only with the strength of all nine of his tails and his own two legs that Naruto wasn't sent flying from the impact. Instead, he was merely sent skidding back several dozen meters as the dragon continued to drive itself into the fox avatar.

The dragon's charge was halted when another chakra arm sprouted out of the fox's midsection and grabbed onto it's opponent's neck. Naruto withdrew his tails from the ground before wrapping them around the beast's midsection. With a quick side-step, moving himself out of the dragon's path, Naruto lifted the Ophis' construct from the ground, throwing the dragon over it's shoulder before slamming the God down onto the ground.

The dragon god was offered no rest as all nine of Naruto's tails slammed full force into its body, driving it deeper into the ground. The fox avatar's fists soon followed as the beast's paw slammed into Ophis. The dragon's face was greeted with yet another fist as Naruto pounded the God into the ground.

" _ **Prepare a full powered tailed beast bomb, Kurama**_!" Naruto mentally spoke to his partner as he grabbed onto the dragon underneath him. Within a second, Naruto could already feel the buildup of positive and negative chakra behind the jaw of his avatar. Ophis' construct struggling increased as Naruto opened the maw of his avatar and exposed the complete tailed beast bomb.

" _ **Release the bea-**_ " Before Naruto could unleash the devastating attack on his opponent, a large tail wrapped around his neck. The appendage pulled backwards, forcing Naruto's head up as he released the tailed beast bomb, letting the technique disperse harmlessly into the air.

Naruto began to claw at the tail wrapped around his neck as Ophis slowly rose from her crater. For the first time since Naruto had seen the girl, a full blown grin was on the god's face. The wide smile looked out of place on the girl's face as her construct's form danced around her.

" **Your power is unbelievable for an average human. Enough to defeat both of those pesky dragons. I cannot let this power slip from my grasp. Whether you want to or not, you will be mines**." Ophis' voice had taken a demonic tone as she continued to grasp at the fox's constructs neck.

" _ **Not if I have anything to do about it**_." Naruto punctuated his stalemate by sending all nine of his tails extending towards the God. The dragon was sent reeling back from the force of the impact, releasing Naruto from its grasp. The boy tensed his body as he prepared to take off towards the girl but was stopped by his partner.

" **Stop Naruto, hold on for a second**." Naruto froze as his partner's voice sang out in his head.

" _ **What is it, Kurama?**_ " Naruto eyed Ophis as the girl slowly recovered from his punch.

" **I've been examining the girl since this battle has started. She's been constantly drawing in energy from this place. An insane amount of energy. Just look at her.** " Naruto's eyes quickly scanned over the girl's body. Cerulean eyes swept over the hulking form of the dragon standing in front of him.

" _ **There's not a scratch on her. Not even after I slammed her into a full powered rasengan and beat her into the ground. She doesn't even look tired.**_ " Naruto's eyes narrowed at the small observation.

" **Exactly. This place, its feeding her energy. Every attack we've thrown at her has done nothing but hurt her temporarily. She just seems to heal, no matter how much damage we do to her. We're fighting a senseless battle right now. Even if we pulled out the truth-seeking balls, we can't be sure it'll beat her in this environment. No use pulling out our trump card if it just going to fail.** " Naruto managed to just dodge another one of Ophis' attack as he continued his conversation with his partner.

" _ **So what do you suggest?**_ "

" **Like the girl said from before, this place is a dimensional gap. This place is a gap between the different dimensions of this universe. With enough force, we could rip our way through to the other side. The problem is … we have no way to determine just where we will end up at.** " The shinobi frowned at the uncertainty in his partner's voice. From what he had gathered, this world he had found himself in was split into 3 different dimensions, heaven, hell and earth. There were pocket dimensions scattered all about, each one created by a God or some creature of unimaginable powers but the chance of him being pulled into one of them were very slim. Getting pulled into heaven or hell and having to deal with their soldiers wasn't really a much better choice but with the circumstances he was facing now, it seemed like his best option.

" _ **Fine. We'll make a tactical retreat. Just tell me how to how to do this.**_ " Naruto grumbled out in frustration at having to retreat. Admitting defeat was not something he usually enjoyed doing but this was not a battle he had to fight. No use harming himself over a simple test of his strength.

Without any warning, a large wind began to sweep through the area the two energy constructs were occupying. The wing began to circle around Naruto's form as the boy slowly stretched out his arm. Ophis watched curiously as the wind began to focus around the boy's palm, forming a rather large sphere. To the dragon god's pleasant shock, four blades made of wind attached themselves to the sphere as a loud screeching noise reached her ears. The winds blowing around the two had increased to an almost unbearable point as Naruto continued to hold the powered-up rasenshuriken.

" _ **Sayonara, loli-chan!**_ " Naruto yelled over the roaring winds before sending the S-rank jutsu at his opponent. Ophis had no time to dodge as the attack crossed the distance between the two in the blink of an eye. The dragon god could only brace itself as the microscopic wind blades began to cut into her form.

The rasenshuriken exploded into a countless number of blades of wind that swept over the dragon's body. The blades sliced into her construct's body as the God attempted to shield itself from the worst of the attack. The stream of blades seemed almost endless as Ophis' vision was quickly filled with the deadly wind.

The assault of wind didn't let up for a full minute. By the time the last blade of wind had dispersed, the damage had been done. Ophis' construct slowly fell apart as the God could no longer hold the dragon together. The girl's body and clothing were littered with thousands of cuts and bruises that were already slowly healing.

But all of this didn't matter to Ophis. What mattered was the fact that the blonde haired boy she had just been fighting had disappeared from her site, leaving behind not a single trace of his existence.

"You won't get away that easily. I will find you, Naruto Uzumaki."

* * *

A small portal appeared in the sky momentarily before a yellow streak came shooting out of it. The golden streak shot towards the ground before coming to a sudden stop only a foot away from the ground.

"Dear Kami that was close. A warning next time would be greatly appreciated" Naruto muttered to himself as he slowly descended to the ground in his sage of six path cloak. During his dimensional trip, the boy had exited his fox avatar form.

" **I'm sorry that I didn't account for your exit velocity when it came to inter-dimensional travel. I'll try my hardest to calculate that for you next time, sunshine.** " The sarcasm dripping from the kitsune's fox was palpable, even from inside the boy's mindscape.

"I don't appreciate the sarcasm, Baka-kitsune."

" **Don't you dare call me that, you brat!** "

"I would like to see you stop me."

" **Brat** "

"Baka!"

" **Brat"**

"Ba-"

"HALT!" Naruto froze in the middle of his insult as a booming voice reached his ears. A small prick could be felt on the back of his neck as the blonde-haired boy stood stock-still.

"You have one second to explain how you've reached the Sixth Heaven before I eradicate your name from the Book of Life."

"...I have a perfectly good explanation for this..."

* * *

 _ **AN: Not really much to say. I await your replies and reviews. Hope you all have a wonderful evening. I'm going out for ice cream. I'll be working on my RWBY crossover and this at the same time so hopefully another chapter in a couple of weeks.**_


	9. Chapter 9

**VERY IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE AT THE END OF THIS CHAPTER. PLEASE READ**

* * *

All throughout his life, Naruto had grown used to dealing with getting himself into some pretty bad situations. All of his pranks back in his childhood had left him in a good amount of trouble with the hokage and the village. He had almost gotten killed multiple times over the length of his ninja career. And he had just gotten finished fighting a dragon god. So Naruto could safely say he had been in some pretty crappy situations.

But the situation he found himself in now topped all the other situations. Somehow, most likely due to his ungodly amount of crap luck, he had managed to tear a dimensional hole into heaven of all places. Even worse, he didn't appear in the lower levels of heaven. No, he appeared in the SIXTH level of heaven which was apparently where Michael and Gabriel, the Archangels of Heaven, slept. And it just so happened, once again most likely due to his crappy luck, Michael was present on this level and had been alerted by his arrival.

"I'm only going to repeat it one more time before I banish you from this plane of existence. Who are you, how did you get here and why are you here?" Michael stated as he levelled his sword at Naruto's back. The angel's usually handsome face twisted into a harsh visage as he stared at the teen in front of him. His twelve white wings reached out behind him. The man's halo was glowing a bright yellow as if to signify the man's agitation.

"What the hell did you get us into now, Kurama?" Naruto mentally screamed at his partner as the point of Michael's blade poked against the back of his clothing. On the outside, the blonde had managed to keep a somewhat calm look on his face but on the inside, he was mentally cursing every entity in existence, including his partner.

" **I told you what risks we were taking when we originally came up with this idea. Don't get all pissy with me just because Lady Luck doesn't like you.**." The tailed beast almost sounded like he was chuckling at the boy's misfortune, adding more fuel to Naruto's agitation. The blonde could sense that the angel's patience was quickly running thin and he had to say something quick or else he wouldn't be making it back to earth.

"I got here on accident, I swear! I was just walking ar-" Naruto released a loud yelp as he had to quickly duck under Michael's sword.

"Do not lie to me, you heathen. I will not accept such sin from anyone in this sacred place." Michael said as his halo began to glow brighter. The angel looked as if he was about to smite the boy with his angelic powers, causing Naruto to panic even more.

"Okay, okay! I'm just a simple candy shop own-" Naruto was forced to dodge around a large ball of light that was shot from Michael's palm. The ball of light was quickly followed by a massive spear of light that almost pierced Naruto's torso.

'"Fine! I was fighting a dragon god and I ended up here after the fight by accident! Stop trying to kill me. I thought angels were supposed to be nice." Naruto yelled out as the archangel looked to be preparing another attack. Michael paused in his charging of the attack, seemingly contemplating his fellow blonde's explanation. This point was further proven when the angel let the build up of light disperse from his hands.

"You finally speak the truth. I hope your experience here will teach you that lying will only lead to your downfall." Naruto almost did a double take at the angel's now gentle tone. It was so different from the angry voice the man had used not even a second ago that it was hard for Naruto to believe it had come from the same person.

"I'm sorry for lying. I've had some bad experiences when it comes to being too truthful with people." Naruto mumbled out as he stared at the strongest angel in Heaven. The man offered a brief nod before clapping his hands together. Suddenly with a bright burst of light, a book appeared in front of the angel. The book was an extravagant piece of work. Every inch of its cover was bound in gold. Strange markings and symbols, too complex for even Naruto, a seal master, to understand, were carved into the book. A bright light shone from the confines of the book, forcing Naruto to look away from it. Michael seemed to be able to look at the book with no problem at all as casually flipped through the tome.

"How intriguing … Your name is not present in the book of life. Not even amongst the blotted. Naruto Uzumaki, according to this created by God himself, you don't even exist." Michael's narrowed eyes met Naruto's as the angel let the book dissolve in the air. Naruto released a nervous chuckle as his hand slowly slid to the back of his head.

"Ah … I also have a good explanation for that." Naruto's nervousness was apparent as the angel in front of him glared a hole into his skull. The angel looked to be charging up another one of his attacks as the blonde continued to look more and more suspicious.

Luckily for the blonde, his explanation would have to be saved for later as the sound of footsteps reached both Naruto and Michael's ears. Both of the males turned their head towards the footsteps, Michael intrigued at who had managed to get into the sixth level of heaven while Naruto was just thankful for a distraction to the tense situations.

"Dulio-kun, how nice of you to finally show back up in heaven … five weeks after I requested your return." The reincarnated angel had a lollipop in his mouth as he casually strode towards the duo. Unlike the last time Naruto saw him, 10 pure white wings were coming from Dulio's back.

"Sorry Michael-san. I was walking through Rome when I discovered this quaint little candy shop. Turns out the couple that ran the place had the secret to creating the ultimate lollipop. After trying one of their lollipops, I knew I had to have the recipe. So I stayed and went through the training necessary to create the delicious treat. That is why I'm so late." The man rattled off as if he was casually talking about the weather. Naruto's head turned towards Michael and he could see the archangel hanging his head into his hands while sighing.

"I thought you didn't like lies in here." Naruto said to his fellow blonde. Michael released a long sigh before raising his head to answer the teen.

"I do hate lies. But he's not lying. No matter how ridiculous it sounds, he's actually speaking the truth." Michael muttered while staring at his subordinate. The former exorcist seemed to not be affected by the angel's glare as he continued to lick at his lollipop.

"Oh, I also met and talked with Naruto for a bit. He's the source of that disturbance I told you about a few days ago." Dulio stated as he finished his lollipop. Without missing a beat, the man reached into his coat's pocket and pulled out another lollipop which he proceeded to immediately start licking.

"So that would explain why his name isn't in the book." Michael said to himself as his eyes went back over to the shinobi. "It's best to say that you aren't from around here, right Uzumaki-san?" Naruto merely nodded his head at the angel's questioning tone.

"The real question is what are your plans since you are here. I'm afraid to say that if they have even a shred of malicious intent, I will have to end you."

"I don't think there's any need for that, Michael-san. I've talked with him for a bit and I think he's a pretty nice guy. Plus he makes some pretty good desserts." Michael's head turned to Dulio, an eyebrow raised in question.

"I thought you said you just talked with Naruto."

"That talk also included a large amount of candy and desserts. Don't worry, I made sure to bill the church this time." Another sigh came from Michael's lips at the angel's response. Why couldn't he had resurrected someone that was just slightly more serious about his job? Why did he have to bring back the one exorcist that had a candy fetish?

"As much as I trust your judgement … most of the time, I still have to question this boy. He claims to have fought Ophis before his arrival here. If this is true and he managed to survive without any visible injuries, he could be a threat. I cannot, in good conscious, just sit back and allow him to walk away from this." Without any warning, a pair of handcuffs made out of light formed themselves around Naruto's wrist. A choker, also made of light, materialized around the boy's neck.

"These are merely safety precautions. If you're as benign as you state, I won't have to activate the choker to decapitate you. Now, follow me." And with that, the ruler of Heaven turned on his heel and began to walk into a random direction. Naruto glanced towards Dulio who offered him a simple shrug before sighing and following the archangel.

"What the hell did I get myself into this time." The blonde thought to himself. He would be finding out very, very soon.

* * *

If looks could kill, Riser Phenex would've succumbed to death by the combination of Rias, Issei, Kiba, Akeno and Koneko's glare the second he stepped into the clubroom. Large amounts of hate could be felt coming from the peerage as the young man stood in front of his own peerage. The cocky smile planted on his lips did not help to reduce the intensity of the glares.

"Rias Gremory. Or should I say Rias Phenex. You should start growing accustomed to hearing that." The man's voice seemed to physically harm Rias' peerage as they cringed as he soon as he spoke. Rias stood strong, however, as she continued to stare the man in the eyes as an act of defiance.

"I will not grow accustom to any such thing. I will never lower myself down to the level of marrying you, _Riser_." The way the girl spat out the man's voice made it obvious how she felt about him. The amount of disgust and anger behind his name was a clear sign that marrying him was not something the girl wanted.

Riser didn't seem to pick up on that disgust as he let out a flippant laugh while walking towards the girl. Behind her, Issei had to be physically restrained by Kiba as the Phenex clan heir stopped just in front of the Gremory girl and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Your delusions are rather cute at this moment. Though, I hope you do realize that the reason I even accepted the option of a rating game is just so I can crush those delusions personally. I will break you and make you mines, Rias. In the end, you won't even have the will to fight back. Then the fun can truly begin." Koneko had to join in holding back Issei as Riser spoke out loud. Rias violently shrugged the man's hand off of her shoulder while taking a step away from him.

"I'm going to have so much fun proving you wrong. You'll regret ever even coming here in 14 days." Rias mustered up every ounce of courage and confidence she had as she said that to the man's face. Riser stared into her eyes for a few brief moments before letting out a small chuckle.

"Crushing you and your peerage is going to be just that much more satisfying with this false confidence you have." Riser said while glancing over Rias' shoulder and looking at her peerage. His attention was immediately captured by the struggling Issei that was being held back by both Kiba and Koneko as the boy continued to loudly curse Riser. The blonde Phenex rolled his eyes before raising his hand towards the boy. Without any warning, a small fireball emerged in the man's hand. With a simple flick of his wrist, the ball of fire was sent rocketing towards the trio. Koneko, Kiba and Issei had no time to dodge as the ball expanded and slammed into them, throwing them several feet backwards in a small explosion.

Before Riser could enjoy his small victory, the air in the room grew incredibly tense as a large amount of demonic power was released. The man stiffened when he felt prick press against the back of his neck. The man's breathing became audible in the silent room as he tried his best to retain his composure.

"Grayfia-San, why the sudden hostility?" Riser managed to get out while sounding calm. The woman standing behind him could be best described as a bombshell maid. She was beautiful woman with long silver hair and matching eyes. Her figure was somewhat hidden by the maid outfit she had on but one could still see that she was well endowed even with the uniform on. Her silver eyes were narrowed in anger as she held a blade to the back of Riser's neck.

"Why did you attack a member of an opposing peerage for no reason? I have full right to end your life right now for threatening the life of a Gremory vassel." Grayfia emphasized her point by driving the tip of her blade into Riser's neck, causing the Phenex to bleed slightly.

"I was provoked. The boy was obviously attempting to attack me. I was merely just retaliating to his actions." Grayfia eyes narrowed even further before slowly removing the blade from the back of Riser's neck. The Phenex visibly relaxed as the maid of the Gremory household stepped away from him.

"Please refrain from engaging in any type of violence or combat. The next time that something like this happens, I will not hesitate to respond with full force." Grayfia spoke with the same monotone voice she had become known for. Riser offered the woman a small nod while looking over at Rias' peerage once again. Koneko, Issei and Kiba seemed to be completely fine, only suffering small bruises and a thin layer of ash on their skin. The man offered the trio a small smirk before turning back towards his own peerage.

"We're leaving now. This room stinks of burnt trash." With that, the Phenex seal appeared underneath Riser and his peerage feet before they all disappeared in a bright flash of demonic energy, leaving Rias in her clubroom with her peerage and Grayfia.

As soon as Rias was sure that Riser was gone from the clubroom, the young girl collapsed to her knees, drawing the attention of everyone else in the room. Her peerage and Grayfia immediately rushed to the girl's side as she remained in her kneeling position. The small group surrounded the redhead girl as she began to shake violently.

"I can't spend the rest of my life married to that man. I can't. I can't. I would rather kill myself than to be married to him. I can't do it." Tears streamed down the girl's cheek as she mumbled to herself. Grayfia looked away with a small amount guilt evident on her face while Rias' peerage attempted to comfort the girl. Akeno kneeled down to the girl's level and wrapped her in a hug. The hug seemed to break whatever emotional dams were left in the girl as the tears started to flow more freely and her rambling turned into loud cries.

From the side, Koneko watched her king cry pain filled tears. Her usual mask of stoicism had been completely wiped away in the presence of her pained king. Her heart hurt for the girl who had rescued her in her youth. She wanted to help. She had to help her king.

"But how.." The girl thought to herself as she looked down into her hands. Koneko knew that she could handle the majority of Riser's peerage but the man himself? The girl doubted that she could do any lasting damage to him due to his regenerative powers. That's if she managed to even get to him. His queen was no laughing matter either. She was known for her devastating attacks and viciousness that could retire a piece in a single move. She wouldn't even be able to get close to the queen before being blown to hell.

"I need to get strong." Koneko muttered to herself while looking up from her hands. A look of determination had crossed the girl's face as she looked at her king. She had to become strong for her king. By any means necessary.

* * *

"So … you claim to have fought Ophis … the infinite dragon god who is considered one of the strongest beings in existence … out of curiosity?" Michael's voice was filled with an incredible amount of disbelief as he looked at the teen sitting in front of him. Naruto nodded his head to the best of his ability with the choker wrapped around his neck.

The two blondes had found themselves sitting in a simple room that Naruto had quickly deduced was used for interrogation. A long wooden table separated the two beings as a single light lit the spartan-esque interior of the room.

"Well when you put it like that, it makes me sound bad. She was going around and destroying stuff. I just confronted her to make sure she didn't cause any more harm that she had already done." Naruto answered the man with a slight undertone of embarrassment in his voice.

"Wasn't she doing all off this damage while searching for you?" Michael said accusingly, his eyebrow raised in question.

" **He's got you there.** " Kurama chimed in, interrupting his long run of silence. Mentally, Naruto flipped the beast off before responding to the tailed beast.

"Well … yes but that doesn't mean I did anything wrong. She was just interested in me because I am powerful. I didn't side with her or anything like that." Naruto attempted to plead his case to the strict angel. Michael seemed to be having none of that however as he continued to hold his scrutinizing gaze on Naruto.

"Is that so? Then pledge your allegiance to the church and heaven. If your intentions are good, that shouldn't be a problem at all. You know that our mission goal is for the spread of peace and christianity throughout the world." Michael gave his ultimatum to his fellow blonde, causing the younger male to sigh.

"Kurama.."

" **Already gathering chakra. Just get the choker and handcuffs off of us and we'll be good to go**." Even though the kitsune could be a pain in the ass at times, Naruto was grateful that he had his partner with him. It would make escaping situations like this so much harder.

"I … I can't actually do that." Naruto admitted. While he did respect the church for its origns and intentions, he knew that allying himself to them was not an option. First of all, he would be blind to see that even with the church's good intentions, not everyone apart of it shared the same motives. The fact that fallen angels even existed proved that the church wasn't infallible. Second and most importantly in his mind, Koneko was a devil. Joining the church would pit the two against each other, something that Naruto definitely did not want.

"I see. Then I'm afraid to say that I cannot allow you to leave. You have seen the inside of the sixth level, something that most regular angels never get to see. I cannot allow you to return to earth with this knowledge." Michael stood as he said this. With a snap of the man's fingers, the choker around Naruto's neck tightened and the handcuffs around his wrist began to glow bright.

"Do not worry. Your accommodations will not be inhumane. Us angels tend to treat our prisoners with the respect they deserve. Unless you're a devil … then just being in my presence would prove to be somewhat agitating to you." Michael stated. Naruto glanced down at the handcuffs that confined his wrist, a small frown on the his face as his eyes swept over the restrainment tool.

"I'm afraid to say that I can't stay here any longer. Don't take this personally." Before Michael could question the boy's weird comment, a literal wave of power swept over the angel. Naruto's chakra cloak exploded around the boy's body, shattering the choker and handcuffs that were restraining him. The archangel staggered backwards as waves of chakra coming from Naruto hit him.

"I hope this doesn't damage my chances of going to heaven when I die." Naruto said cheekily before shooting the stunned angel a two-finger salute and flashing out of the room. Several seconds later, several multi-winged angels came charging into the room. They were shocked to find their leader sat on the ground with a bewildered look plastered on his face.

"Michael-Sama, what happened in here? Where's the prisoner?" One of the angels asked as the others secured the room. Michael seemed to finally snap out of his shocked state at the man's question. His head snapped upwards as his lips settled into a thin line of concentration.

"Contact Gabriel immediately and tell her to return immediately. Call the rest of the archangels to the meeting room. We have an emergency."

* * *

If Ophis could describe one word for today, that word would be terrible. This day had been absolutely terrible for the dragon god. From start to end, she had to deal with the nuisance known as humanity as she attempted to hunt her target down. It took all of the self-restraint that she had managed to muster since her creation at the beginning of time to not transform and wipe Kuoh off the face of the world. In hindsight, she sort of regret not doing that in the first place.

To make things even worse, her target had managed to slip away from her grasp. The god had underestimated the boy's ability and assumed he would not have enough power to break through the fabric of space between the two dimensions. Unfortunately for her, he had managed to do so and escape to god knows where.

Finally, to top off the terrible day, her battle with Naruto had brought the attention of the very being she had wished to banish from her home. The Great Red, a dragon of tremendous size and strength that had made its home in the dimensional gap, had found its way over to Ophis.

" **Eh girl! Girl! Don't ignore me. What happened? I sensed some fighting! EH!** " The dragon's rough and guttural voice did not mix well with his childish way of speaking. It also didn't mix well with the frustration Ophis was feeling at the moment. The dragon god expressed this frustration by firing a large orb of energy at the apocalyptic dragon. The red dragon took the attack head on, only letting out a small grunt when the orb impacted against his scales and pushed him back a few feet.

" **You were fighting someone, weren't ya? Who was it? Did they beat ya? Is that why you're mad? Haha, you got beat u-** " The dragon was silenced when another orb, this one several times larger, slammed into his snout. The dragon was pushed back this time by the force of attack as he began to cough violently. Ophis watched in satisfaction as the intruder to her home suffered because of her.

"Be silent! I don't have the energy nor patience to deal with your childishness right now." Ophis finally spoke to the dragon before turning and floating away from the beast.

Ophis' departure was interrupted when she felt a very familiar disturbance in the dimensional gap. The dragon god twisted her torso towards the Great Red as the air around the two powerful beings began to vibrate. The space between the two began to stretch and distort as the vibrations grew more violent.

Without any warning, a dimensional tear appeared right before Ophis and the Great Red. The two dragons watched in shock as a yellow blur exited the distortion, the portal closing behind the blur. The yellow blur slammed into the ground, sliding several dozen meters before eventually coming to a stop.

"Really need to work on that exit strategy." Naruto managed to groan out as he picked himself up from out the ground. The blonde stood up to his full height while dusting off the dust and debris that had collected on his chakra cloak. The blonde rolled his neck from side to side, a loud crack emitting from his body as his joints popped back into place.

"Now where did we end … up …. now…" Naruto began to trail off as he noticed the two beings who were staring at him. A massive dragon, a full 100 meters long, was staring at him with curiosity in it's eyes. Ophis floated right beside the dragon, a mixture of surprise and glee evident on her face.

" Uzumaki … I didn't expect you back so soon." Ophis projected her voice out to the blonde. The Great Red continued to stare at Naruto for several second before turning it's head towards its fellow dragon.

" **Is this the guy who beat you up? He doesn't look tough at all. You got beat up by a wimp, didn't ya?** " Ophis paid the dragon beside her no attention as she kept her gaze fixated on Naruto. The blonde looked extremely on edge as he stood in the presence of two of the most powerful beings in the universe.

"Kurama … "

" **Seems that there is no way to physically rip from dimension to dimension. It most likely requires some sort of special device or technique to do so. Unfortunately, we have no knowledge of any such technique so we end up here, in between the dimensions, each time we travel**." Kurama reasoned off the top of his head. Naruto offered the tailed beast a small nod as his eyes stayed locked onto the two dragons in front of him. He already knew that Ophis was willing to attack him with lethal force. He could only assume that from the dragon's color and length that the one beside her was the Great Red she had spoken about earlier.

" **Hey human!** **You strong? You don't look so strong to me. Wanna fight?** " Naruto was taken back by the dragon's tone. He had expected the beast to be menacing, intimidating, terrifying or at least somewhat scary. From it's appearance, the beast fit all of that but the way it talked made it seem … annoying at best.

"Shut your mouth, you imbecile. You have no idea what strength this human possesses. Merely step aside and allow me to deal with him." Ophis said as wisps of energy began to gather around her body. A malicious smirk sprouted on the girl's face as she began to descend towards Naruto's still form.

Unfortunately for the dragon god, her approach was interrupted when the Great Red's tail smacked into her, sending her hurtling towards the ground. The girl slammed full force into the ground, embedding deep into the thick stone-like material.

" **You don't tell me what to do! I'm the Great Red! I want to fight this human to see how tough he really is. I'm not going to let you get in my way.** " The dragon bellowed as it began to breathe fire towards Ophis' downed form. The white flames reached the dragon god, sweeping over and covering her form. The dragon kept up the stream of flames for several seconds before closing its jaw, cutting off the flames. The dragon then turned its head towards Naruto with a menacing glint in it's eye.

" **Now for you human! Be prepared to face the might of the Great Re** -" It was Great Red's turn to be interrupted as a massive black orb slammed into the side of its body, pushing it backwards for several meters. After shoving the beast back, the sphere exploded, causing Red the release a loud cry as Ophis' body burnt through his scales.

"This is not up for debate. I refuse to let you ruin yet another thing for me." Anger was present in the girl's voice as she rose from her mini-crater. An incomplete version of the god's dragon form surrounded the girl as she shot a heated glare at the intruder of her home. The dragon had shrugged off the god's latest attack and was now staring at her angrily.

" **I don't take orders from you! I don't take orders from anyone!** " The Great Red yelled before charging towards Ophis. The God confronted the beast head on, an angry snarl emitting from her lips as more and more of her dragon form manifested around her.

The two beasts collided in a brilliant display of power, red scales clashing with the ethereal energy coming from Ophis. Claws quickly came out as the two dragons attempted to tear each other's throat out.

"I think it's time we made our exit, Kurama." Naruto whispered to himself and his partner as the two dragon's continued to clash with each other. Silently, his partner agreed with him as Naruto's chakra cloak began to glow with power.

With one last look at the two clashing beast, Naruto disappeared from sight, exiting from the dimensional gap once again and unknowingly pissing off the dragon god …. once again.

* * *

It was past midnight when Koneko found herself outside of her boyfriend's home. She had spent the majority of the day with Rias. To say that the girl was depressed about the situation was a vast understatement. Once Akeno had hugged her, the tears had flowed freely down the girl's cheeks. In good conscious, she couldn't leave her friend while she was feeling so down. Koneko would still be there right now if Rias hadn't fallen asleep. Even then, it took Akeno's constant reassurance that she could take care of the girl before any of Rias' peerage members had left the girl's side.

After that, she had spent some time exploring the outskirts of Kuoh in an attempt to clear her cluttered minds. Wishing to grow stronger was a simple task but actually achieving it was a hard task. The young girl's mind had quickly become filled with doubt, fear and sadness at her own incompetence.

Eventually, without her realizing it, her thoughts led her to her boyfriend's home. She had been so caught up in the day's events that the blonde haired boy hadn't even crossed her mind until she realized she was in front of his house. Guilt had immediately hit her as she felt that she had ignored the boy.

And that is how Koneko found herself standing at Naruto's doorstep. The girl was hesitant to knock, unsure if Naruto was even awake at this hour. Even if he was awake, why would he want to talk to her after being basically ignored by her all day.?

Koneko's hesitation was quickly put to rest when she heard a loud crash emit from inside Naruto's home. The crash was followed by a loud set of curses from a voice that sounded strangely similar to her boyfriend's. With her curiosity now taking precedence over her fear, Koneko knocked twice on the wooden door to Naruto's home.

Another string of curses soon followed the girl's knocking as the sound of more crashing reached the devil's ears. This pattern continued for almost a full minute before the door swung open, revealing a very disheveled Naruto Uzumaki. The boy shirt, if you could call it that at this point, was torn to shreds , barely hanging onto the boy's physique in it's current form. The boy's pants were better fit to be called shorts now as they were covered in scorch marks and tears. His hair was covered in a small amount of ash that offsetted rather nicely with his blonde hair, something that Koneko immediately took notice of.

"Ko-chan! You have no idea how glad I am to see you." The nekoshou didn't even have a chance to respond before she was pulled into the boy's house. She wasn't too shocked to see that it was covered in broken glass and furniture considering what condition the boy's clothing was in.

"Is everything ok?" Koneko asked as she and her boyfriend settled down onto his couch, which so happened to be one of the few clean places in the house. The rest of the house looked as if a tornado had just swept through it.

"Everything is fine … at least now it is. Is everything okay with you? You seem a bit down." Koneko bit her lip at the boy's question, unsure about how much she should reveal to the blonde. She wanted to help out her friend but she also didn't want to involve Naruto in anything that he shouldn't be involved with.

In the end, Koneko explained the full situation to Naruto. From Riser's proposal to the Phenex heir's action in the clubroom and finally the rating game. When Koneko had told him that Riser had attacked her along with Akeno and Issei, Naruto had wanted to tear his way into the underworld and kick the Phenex's ass. It was only due to Koneko's reassurance that she was unharmed that Naruto decided to refrain my directly harming the man … for now.

"That's why I am here. I need to get stronger. I can't let Rias-Sama suffer like this. I … I need you to teach me how to use senjutsu." Naruto examined the obviously shaken up girl. And internally, he was smiling with pride. Even with the knowledge of what senjutsu could do to a person in this, Koneko was willing to take the risk to help her friend.

"Before I give you my answer, I want to make sure you know the risks going into this. You've seen first hand what senjutsu could do to you. I'll be with you every step of the way with you through it all." Naruto warned the girl. The determined look on the her face didn't falter one bit during the statement. If anything, the look only seemed to grow stronger with each passing second.

"This is something I must do.I have to grow stronger for myself and Rias-Sama. No matter what that takes, I'll grow stronger." Koneko would have no idea how much she would be regretting those words in two weeks.

* * *

 **AN: So before I get into the usual festivities, I would like to introduce something. I've been writing fanfiction for several years now. I find the experience very awarding and a wonderful experience. I want to make that fact 100% clear. I'm eternally grateful for the fact that this story along with my others have reached such a high level of popularity within their communities. You have no idea how happy it makes to see that this very story is slowly rising to the Top 10 most Favorited stories in this category.**

 **But I want you guys to understand that writing fanfiction isn't my everything. Its some that I love doing for myself and you guys as well. You are all my motivation to write chapter after chapter, no matter how long it takes. But other crap in life pops up and must be dealt with.**

 **Now I know at this point, this seems like a "I'm abandoning the story because work, school, etc" type of message and I can assure you that if you're still reading, ITS NOT! This has to deal with something that I would like to try out and see how well it goes.**

 **I have created a account. If you would like more information on the site itself and its history, just google it. Plenty of info can be found through that. Anyway, basically allows you guys, my wonderful audience, to donate funds to me for writing fanfiction. NOW before anyone starts freaking out, this thing is completely optional. If people don't donate, I wont suddenly stop writing. This is a 100% optional. I've had people pming about this for several weeks and I would at least like to give it a shot.**

 **If you're willing to learn more, visit my profile page and follow the instructions there. Depending on the success of the , I may expand on it or keep it as is. Once again, I don't want anyone to feel like they are forced to donate. I realize everyone can't just give money to a random guy over the internet for writing amateur fanfiction. I honestly do. I already deeply appreciate the support you guys and gals have shown me up to this point with my stories.**

 **That is enough out of me for today. I'll be responding to pms, reviews and messages throughout the week. I hope you all enjoy your night/day. Peace out**


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: What is this? A new chapter so soon? Impossible? No ladies and gentlemen, you are not dreaming. I actually posted a chapter this quickly. I honestly surprised myself with how quickly this came out. I had a lot of motivation and it all just flowed out, thanks to you guys.**

 **During this chapter, there's an introduction of some "OC" characters. I use the term "OC" very lightly because technically these are characters who have been mentioned or at least implied to be in the DxD universe. I will give a further explanation at the end of this chapter. For now, just enjoy and read.**

* * *

Koneko loved her boyfriend. She loved his bright, sunny hair. She loved his smile that never seemed to fade away. She loved the positive and carefree attitude he had when it came to life. She loved almost every single thing about the boy.

All those feelings had been immediately buried in the girl the second she had began Naruto's training regimen. The blonde had started her off with a grueling set of physical exercises that had left the girl sore in places she had never been sore in. Dragging boulders, thousands of pushups, miles and miles of running, every single thing the boy could think of was thrown at the girl.

"This is to strengthen your body Ko-chan. There's no use in even attempting to learn senjutsu if your body cannot physically handle the power of nature." Naruto had told her as she finished her twelfth lap around the perimeter of a clearing with a small boulder strapped onto her back. Normally, she would've been able to finish the exercise without any issues. Unfortunately for the girl, Naruto, in all of his infinite wisdom, had placed something called a resistance seal on her body. Now instead of blazing through the workout with the use of her devil powers, Koneko struggled to balance herself with the massive rock strapped to her back..

After finishing the set of exercises, Koneko would then be subjected to meditation. Not just any type of meditation but meditation that required her to remain perfectly still. Each time she so much as twitched, she would be bopped on the top of her head by Naruto. The crown of her head had started to get tender after only ten minutes into the meditation. How in the world did her sporadic boyfriend ever manage to get this down, she would never know.

When Naruto had first demonstrated the technique to the girl, he had made it seem to easy. The blonde had simply sat in a crossed leg position before settling his hands on his knees and inhaling a deep breath. After that, the boy closed his eyes and seemingly froze in place within the same moment. Not even the rising and falling of the boy's chest could be seen as he descended deeper and deeper into his meditative state.. He was as still as a tree, completely unmoving as a soft wind blew through the clearing.

Seconds after Naruto had started his meditation, Koneko felt an all too familiar force appear in the clearing. The air grew thick and heavy as nature's hate began to pour from out the plants and grass. The girl had almost fainted when she was exposed to the malice that the clearing contained. It was a thick, ancient feeling of hate that had been built up over centuries of abuse. And all of it was flowing into Naruto.

If it wasn't for the fact that Naruto had explicitly warned her to not come in contact with him while he was gathering the natural energy, Koneko would've immediately ran over and knocked him out of his meditation when she felt the hate. Instead, she watched with a combination of fear and amazement in her eyes as Naruto continued to absorb the chakra, and with it, the hatred. The blonde didn't even offer up a single flinch as he bore the brunt of Nature's wrath. The process had continued for a full minute before Naruto had finally opened his eyes from his meditation.

And with the opening of his eyes, a new feeling filled the clearing. Koneko had to hold in a gasp as the same feeling of comfort and peace from before swept over her body. A wave of comfort swept through the clearing, washing over everything it touched. Koneko was not the only one who was affected as a multitude of animals who had perched themselves around the edge of the clearing slowly came out of their hiding spots in an attempt to experience more of this euphoric feeling. And at the center of this tidal wave of energy was Naruto.

"One key thing that people don't realize when it comes to using senjutsu is that one must become fully connected with nature when using it . You must accept it, all of its flaws, its imperfections, its hate and its strife. You cannot be selective of what you bring in when you absorb natural chakra. You must be able to take it all." Naruto had spoke to her as he approached her downed form. Koneko couldn't even focus on the boy's word as the pure, untainted power of nature swept over her. The power was so exhilarating yet calming at the same time. Just being close to it had filled her with so much energy yet she felt so peaceful at the moment.

"I didn't feel this when I sensed Kuroka use senjutsu.." Koneko managed to mumble out through her haze of euphoria.

"Your sister didn't purify the natural chakra. She merely molded and used it for her own personal gain. She was causing more harm to herself than good. As a sage and a senjutsu user, my body acts like a purifier for natural chakra. Instead of just simply taking it in and using i before spitting it back out, my body absorbs the chakra, processes it through my chakra pathway before releasing it in its purer form. What you're feeling right now is a combination of my chakra and the natural chakra absorbed from the earth." Naruto explained to the girl as he took a seat next to her. It seemed like the girl was slowly becoming used to his overwhelming presence as her eyes seemed less glazed over.

"How are you able to do it? All of that hate … Just being near it makes me almost faint. How you can you just put that into your body?" Naruto let out a small chuckle at the girl's question, drawing a curious glance from his glance. The blonde then looked up to the sky as he began to speak.

"I am used to internally dealing with hatred. My world was filled with so much of it. Everyone, from my closest friends to my greatest enemies, was filled with hate. Even I had it within me. So much hate was inside me when I was younger. So much hate for my village, for the people who had scorned me, for the person who ruined my life … I hated them all so much." Koneko's complete attention was focused on Naruto. The boy's face was turned away from the girl as he continued to stare into the sky.

"The hate built up. It grew stronger and stronger until it began to affect my life. I started to lose control. I lashed out in anger. I hurt the people who were the closest to me. I had started to become consumed by it." The remorseful tone in the boy's voice had Koneko hanging onto each word that exited the boy's mouth. While she was well aware of the boy coming from a different world, he had never gone into much detail about it. This was the first time she was able to get details about it.

"Eventually there came a time where I thought I had to conquer my hate. I had to destroy it, wipe it completely from existence to move on. I wanted it gone. I wanted it to never bother me. I didn't realize just how wrong I was for thinking that." Naruto gently formed his hands into a fist at this.

"Hate isn't something you get rid of. It doesn't just fade away with time. You have to accept it. All of your emotions, even your hate, make you what you are. You can't pick and choose which ones you want. Accept it all. I use this line of thinking when I'm meditating and absorbing natural chakra. The hatred you feel is apart of the earth. It's been embedded in its core from years of abuse. Acceptance of this hate is the key to properly using natural chakra." Naruto finished as he turned his head to Koneko. A gentle smile was placed on his lips as his hand settled on Koneko's.

"I know you can do this Ko-chan. You have the will and strength to get through this." A wave of confidence swept through the girl at Naruto's word. With the blonde by her side, she felt like she could do anything.

* * *

"You just let him leave? Do you realize just how big of a security risk this is? He could be wandering through Heaven right now!" Michael released a low groan as he sunk deep into his chair. The archangel could already feel a headache forming and the meeting had only begun a five minutes ago.

As soon as Michael had recovered from his shock in the interrogation room, he had summoned the council of archangels. This was a collection of angels who were known for closeness to God and their power that far outmatched any regular angel.

"Raguel, I understand your frustration but I assure you that the boy is no longer in heaven. I have already secured the seventh and sixth level personally. Guards posted along the perimeter of levels five and below report no sign of the boy." The silver haired angel known as Raguel let out a sigh as he sat back down his chair. The archangel of justice had been livid when he discovered that a foreign entity had invaded heaven and managed to escape right under Michael's nose.

"While I trust your word, Michael-san, I do not trust the actions of this "human". The fact that he managed to break into heaven is very alarming. Even the devils faced a huge amount of difficulty with this task and this human apparently did it on accident? This is very alarming." The calm voice of Camael reached the ears of each of the archangels. Even with the events surrounding the angels, the bearer of the flaming sword of God maintained a serene air around himself.

"I have written this boy off as a threat. His mere presence in heaven, even for such a brief period of time, makes his capture a #1 priority." Michael stated.

"What if it's too late for that? What if the way was in leagues with the devils or our fallen brethren? What if he has already revealed the secrets to breaking into heaven? Maybe instead of prioritizing his capture, we should be preparing for an invasion." Of all the angels, the one who had just spoke looked to be the oldest. The angel's black hair was already showing signs of greying. Wrinkles covered the man's face as a small frown settled on his lips.

"Aren't you being a bit paranoid, Raphael? He is just a human." The youngest looking of the angels spoke. The child of God had a youthful face with an extremely pale complexion. His eyes were completely black, adding to his strange yet young appearance.

"You should know just how resilient these humans can be at times, Sariel. You see them at their weakest yet they continue to struggle and cling onto life with the strength of a dragon. Never underestimate the potential of a human." Raphael fired back to the angel of death. Sariel's smile disappeared from his face at the older angel's words.

"If you're finished educating the youngling of the group, I would love to hear you contribute something other than hypothetical situation." Raguel spoke up once again, causing Raphael to shoot a glare at his fellow archangel. The older angel glanced around the meeting room, taking notice that he now had the attention of everyone in the room, before speaking.

"I advise that we start our search on earth while also splitting the distribution of angels in heaven. We cannot be too careful when it comes with dealing with the humans. We also can't be too zealous in our pursuit." Michael hummed softly at his comrade's proposal as the archangels began to talk amongst each other.

"Seems like the simplest and most effective method at this moment. At Least until we have more information. I'll personally send out the order to start the search on earth. Raphael, you plan out an advanced border patrol for each of the seven levels. I want a drawn out plan on my desk by the end of the day. The rest of you are dismissed." One by one, each of the archangels rose from their seats and left the room, leaving only Michael and Gabriel remaining in the room.

The silence between the brother and sister was noticeable as Michael tried his best to avoid the knowing look that he was certain his sister was sending him. The archangel could feel her gaze on the back of his head as he stared at the wall in front of him.

"Don't even say it Gabriel. I don't want to hear it." Gabriel chuckled at her brother's words before rising to her feet. At her full height, one could truly appreciate the beauty that God had created. In essence, the woman was the very definition of beautiful. Although her figure was covered by her priestly robes, her face spoke volumes of her attractiveness. The angel's long blonde hair fell down the full length of her back. Her bright blue eyes and large smile gave off a sense of innocence that would warm the heart of even the coldest people

"I don't have to say it Michael. I already know you're embarrassed because you let that boy get away from you. No use in hurting your already damaged pride, brother." The strongest of the archangels began to pout at his sister's words.

"He caught me off guard. If I had been more prepared he would've never gotten away. Now I have to run damage control while getting everyone else involved." Gabriel's smile left her face as she sensed the remorseful tone of her brother. The angel made her way to her sibling before gently placing a hand on his shoulder.

"No one is blaming you Michael so you have to stop blaming yourself. The boy escaped and you have to accept that. It's time for you to move on from that and start focusing on other things. We can't have our leader moping around all day." Gabriel's upbeat tone managed to erase the smile frown off her brother's face and replace it with a small smile.

"You're right Gabriel. Thank you. You can go now. I need to start preparing myself for these upcomings events." Gabriel offered her brother a large smile along with a short nod before stepping out of the room, leaving Michael alone once again.

Once his sister had fully left the room, the smile on Michael's face faded away as the archangel released a heavy sigh. In that moment, the angel looked to have aged ten years as he sat at the head of the meeting table.

"How did you do this father? How did you deal with the constant pressure and stress of leading a whole nation of angels and humans? I don't know how you did this for so long." Michael muttered to himself as he looked up to the sky. When God had been slain in the war between the three factions, it had been unanimously decided that Michael would take over for his father. His closeness with God, his position as commander of the forces of Heaven and his overwhelming power made him the prime candidate.

When originally presented with the position, Michael had been ethustiac to take over for his father. He had dreams and aspirations of leading Heaven into a new age of advancement and prosperity. He wanted to personally make sure that the legacy of his father's work did not go to waste.

That had been ages ago. The enthusiasm and positivity quickly faded as reality struck the archangel. Daily, the blonde had to operate the God system. Hundreds of millions of prayers reached his ears. Some carrying the innocent nature of children while others carried the perverted and depraved nature of heathens who simply used christianity as an attempt to fuel their own greed.

Through the prayers, he heard the worst of humanity's struggle. Death, illness, poverty, greed, violence, every journey into the God system reminded him just how much humanity suffered.

As if dealing with the strifes of humanity weren't bad enough, Michael also had to deal with the everyday details of life in heaven. Food, clothing and other supplies weren't an issue in God's domain. It was the rate at which angels were fallen that alarmed the archangel. Every single week, a folder would be set on Michael's desk that contained the name, history and abilities of each angel that fell due to sin. Some weeks, the folder was thin, something that Michael had started to savor when it came. Other times, the folder would be as thick as the book of Jeremiah.

"Wherever you are father, I hope you're watching over us. I feel that your blessing in this time of change would benefit us greatly. Unfortunately, we must push forward without it. I know you wouldn't want us to give up. We can't afford to anymore"

* * *

"GODDAMNIT SHEMHAZAI, I SAID I WAS SORRY." Azazel yelled as he ducked under a spear of light. The spear exploded in a brilliant display of light that glowed a dark blue. Each spark emitted from the light spear left a small trail in the air. Azazel had no time to enjoy the lightshow as he continued to run from his pursuer.

"Sorry doesn't cut it, Azazel. I'm getting tired of your antics!" Azazel's pursuer yelled as the man looked to be charging up another attack. The fellow fallen angel took the appearance of a young man who looked to be around his mid 20's. The man had a long mane of white hair that flowed freely down his back. His scarlet eyes were narrowed in righteous fury at his long time friend. The man was dressed in a blue trench coat that allowed his ten jet-black wings to flutter freely behind him.

"I told you that I tried to get him to stay!" Azazel yelped as he dived to the ground, just in time to avoid another light spear from his friend. The fallen angel started to climb to his feet but was interrupted when Shemhazai's foot slammed into the side of his head, sending him collapsing back to the ground.

"We gave you one job! One simple, little job and you couldn't even do that. You're our leader for christ's sake." Shemhazai threw up his hands in frustration as he walked away from his downed friend and technically boss' body. The leader of the Grigori let out a pitiful moan as he clutched onto his head while climbing to his feet.

"If you're done playing around with the idiot, I think it's time for us to get down to business." Another man spoke as he emerged from the shadows. This man was middle-aged with short black hair and a matching beard. His muscular body could be seen through the red overcoat he wore.

"I'm sorry Bara but this idiot's actions just piss me off sometimes. How are we even still friends after all these years?" Shemhazai muttered while walking over to one of the three empty seats that surrounded the dark oak wood table that sit in the middle of the living room. The older man followed his friend's lead and took a seat next to him while Azazel hobbled over to the last empty chair.

"Look, I'm sorry guys but this wasn't some ordinary human. He had to be the descendant of a hero. He managed to keep up with me. He BEAT me. He could've killed me if he wanted to." Azazel exclaimed wildly to his two best friends. The two men in front of him looked at the friend before sighing simultaneously.

"Why didn't he kill you then? Any normal person, human, devil, angel or fallen angel, would've retaliated against the person who attacked them." Baraqiel questioned the fallen angel.

"That's the thing. I don't think he was part of any faction, even the hero one. I was suspicious of what ties he had when he turned down my offer but I'm convinced that he is a loner now. He seemed ignorant to some of the common knowledge that I know is shared between the factions. He didn't kill me because there was no reason for him to. He was confident in his ability to handle me so to him. Me attacking him was only a minor annoyance, not an actual threat." Azazel explained to the two men. Baraqiel let out a thoughtful hum as Shemhazai's frown deepend.

"An unknown entity with a great enough power that it attracted the attention of Ophis. For all we know, he could be wrapped around that goody two shoes' finger. Or he could be Ophis' lap dog. God damnit, I hate not knowing." Shemhazai slammed his fist onto the oak table, causing it to shake violently.

"I understand your anger but we must remain calm. Reacting in anger will only hinder us. Cool heads will prosper in this situation." Baraqiel said while directing his stare at Shemhazai. The spirited fallen angel let out a loud groan as he collapsed back into his seat. He knew that his friend was right. He also knew that uncertainty and unknowns could lead to his death, something Shemhazai was not particularly looking forward to.

"I don't think we have as much to fear than you may think." Azazel's words caught Shemhazai and Baraqiel attention. "The boy, for the lack of a better word, seemed carefree, almost uncaring to a certain extent. Plus it seemed he could handle himself. I doubt that Michael would be able to sway him to his side. If he did engage with Ophis like he had planned, I doubt that he would willingly go along with the girl. Best case scenario, he is dead and out the picture. Either way, there is nothing that we can do in this situation so there's no point in stressing about it." Azazel punctuated his statement by kicking his feet up on the table and leaning back in his chair. Silence quickly filled the room as the trio of friends sat together.

That silence was quickly interrupted by a loud yelp from Azazel as the man was forced to dodge yet another one of Shemhazai's spear. The Grigori leader quickly lost balance and found his face reunited with the ground once again.

"Stop being so casual about the situation, damn it! This is serious. We can't just sit back and do nothing. There is still a chance he is alive and there is a chance that he could be plotting against us right now. We must act accordingly to these risks." Shemhazai yelled while Baraqiel nodded his head in agreement. Azazel shakingly picked himself up from the ground with the help of the table while glaring at his best friends.

"You could've told me that without throwing a spear at my face. You need to learn how to communicate with your words, Shem-ch-" Azazel quickly ducked underneath the table just in time to avoid another light spear. The fallen angel quickly popped his head up and began to blow raspberries at the man . His childish actions were quickly put to rest as a weakened but faster version of a light spear slammed into his face, courtesy of Baraqiel.

"Both of you shut up and act your own age." Baraqiel said as he stood from his seat. "Since you seem incapable of governing the Grigori and assisting with this issue at the same time, Shem and I will handle it." Azazel raised his head from back under the table to shoot the man a small nod before ducking back underneath the furniture in fear of being attacked once again. Shemhazai rolled his eyes at his friend's behavior before standing from his own seat.

"Try not to mess anything else up. Also, be sure to continue to watch over Kokabiel. He has been oddly silent over the past couple of weeks." Azazel's head briefly popped up again to give his friend a nod before retreating once more. Shemhazai sighed at the man's behavior, calling him an idiot under his breath, before disappearing from the room in a flutter of feathers. Baraqiel offered his concealed friend a final farewell before doing the same, leaving his best friend to stay hidden under the table for another full hour. The fallen angel was fearful that his friends were just waiting for him to pop his head up to nail him with a light spear.

Fear was a powerful thing, even for a fallen angel.

* * *

Naruto watched with a small smile on his face as his girlfriend disappeared from his sight in a bright flash of red light. The two had been training for the better part of the day and had made great progress, at least when it came to senjutsu. The girl still hadn't managed to hold still for longer than half a second and Naruto could still sense the trepidation in her body whenever she made an attempt at it. The two had been on the verge of a breakthrough when Koneko had been summoned by her master. Koneko, aware of how Rias was feeling, had apologized to him as she felt that she HAD to answer the summons. Naruto had waved off the apology and kissed the girl goodbye.

Once the Nekoshou had left the clearing, Naruto disappeared from the forested area and reappeared on the front door step of his house. The blonde placed his hand on the door handle, the knob glowing a light blue as the seal implanted on it recognized his finger prints. The handle let out a soft click, signalling it was unlocked, just before Naruto pushed it open. The blonde then stepped into the house before quickly closing the door.

As Naruto was locking the door, a sharp whistle blew through the air. The shinobi casually tilted his head to the side just as a fist buried it's way into the wall behind where his head was only a second ago. The owner of the fist seemed had a fair skin tone with a petite frame, if their wrist and forearm were anything to go by.

"I just got this place cleaned up! Don't go around and destroy it again." Naruto was forced to duck as his intruder attempted to take his head off with an overhead kick. The attack sailed harmlessly over his head but unfortunately landed up hitting his door, shattering the the poor thing into thousands of wooden shards.

"Nya!~ You deserve to die for trying to teach Koneko senjutsu." The now revealed Kuroka yelled as she stood in the opening of Naruto's house. The woman's usually beautiful face was twisted into a harsh scowl as she stared at Naruto. Her tail was waving around erratically behind her, showing just how agitated she truly was.

"So you attack me? I'm just trying to help her." Naruto yelled back at the girl. The nekoshou seemed to pay his words no attention as she rocketed towards Naruto. The devil crossed the distance between the two in the blink of an eye with her fist raised, ready to attack. When she got within range, the girl unleashed her punch … straight into Naruto's awaiting hand, to her utter dismay.

With his grip on her fist, Naruto pulled on the girl's body, throwing her off balance. With the girl off balance, Naruto grabbed onto her forearm and twisted his body along with hers then releasing Kuroka's arm and sending the girl flying across the room. The agile feline quickly recovered from the throw and landed on her feet in the middle of the living room, her scowl still present.

"Do you know what senjutsu can do to you? You call that helping? You're going to kill her!." Kuroka yelled as she leaped at Naruto once again, her claws protruding out of her fist as she prepared to rip Naruto's throat out. Unfortunately for the Nekoshou, the blonde was too quick for her and sidestepped her attack once again, angering the girl even more.

"Why do you use it then? You're being a giant hypocrite right now!" Naruto yelled back at the girl as she pressed her assault.

"Thats because I can control it. She's not ready yet! You're going to ruin her." The girl's anger became more intense as wisps of Yojutsu began to creep into the girl's attacks.

" **You just can't stop yourself from attracting trouble, can ya?** " Kurama questioned as his container dodged the flurry of punches, swipes and kicks that were being aimed at him. Naruto released a silent scoff as he continued to dance around the Nekoshou's attacks.

"It wouldn't be a normal day if I didn't have some type of excitement in my life **.** " Naruto punctuated this statement by spinning around a particular vicious jab that would've most likely punctured his neck if he allowed it to hit him.

" **Well I recommend that you end the excitement a bit early. She can start drawing on natural chakra at any second and I don't think you want to spend another day repairing your house.** " Naruto nodded at his partner's advice before refocusing his full attention on the raging bull of a girl in front of him.

"Sit still and let me carve out your face, Nya!" Kuroka screamed as she continued to swipe at Naruto. The stupid blonde just wouldn't sit still long enough for her to land an attack on. Just when she thought she had caught him off guard, he would always manage to somehow dodge. It was beyond frustrating!

"Now why would I do that? I haven't done anything wrong." With that comment, The girl saw red as she prepared to draw on her senjutsu and tear the teen a new asshole. Fortunately for Naruto, she would never have the chance to do that.

Kuroka released a loud gasp when she felt a hard pressure slam onto the back of her neck. The girl's vision started to quickly change to black as her consciousness faded from her. The Nekoshou, realizing this, leveled one last glare at the boy before falling unconscious.

The clone standing behind Kuroka caught the girl's falling body before it could slam to the ground. Naruto offered his coby a small nod as it carried the girl over to the couch. The clone would apply several chakra and movement suppression seal to the Nekoshou in order to make sure she didn't try to tear the boy's throat out when she woke up.

"Well that's taking care of for now. Not looking forward to when she wakes up." Naruto muttered to himself as his clone dispersed itself.

" **There also the fact that you don't have a door anymore. You may want to deal with that**."

"Fuck."

* * *

 **AN: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I'm guessing not a lot of you figured that I would be going this route. For the angels, the archangels that I introduced in this chapter are all based on Christian archangels. I tried to portray them the best I could considering that I really don't have an accurate description on any of them. Hopefully I was able to do a good job.**

 **Shemhazai is a real character in the DxD universe. He is Azazel's best friend, alongside Baraqiel, hence the casual behavior between the three. Him, Baraqiel and Azazel will continue to have a bigger part in this story.**

 **So thats about it. Kuroka is pissed off, Naruto has a broken door and Ophis eventually going to come for him again. Next chapter should be a pretty interesting one. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and have a good day/night. Review with any questions, comments, concerns, etc.**

 **Extra AN: ! Before you start cursing my name like some of you have, just listen. I want to thank the people who have supported so far. Not even in a monetary in but just with their words. Also, please don't apologize if you find yourself unable to support. The fact that you even thought about it is enough for me at this point ^.^ I also appreciate the concern from some people and I assure you'll that I'll make sure to properly handle the situation if it gets out of control. As for the people who now hate me, I'm sorry you feel that way. Like I stated before, I'm not forcing this on anyone. I'm not telling you guys to do this. Im not threatening the progression of this story with it. If anything, its more motivation for myself.**


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: Your email notifications didn't fool ya! There is indeed another chapter out. "In such a short time? I must be dreaming!" is something you may say. Well I'm here to tell you that you're not! A steaming, hot plate of NarutoxDxD crossover fanfiction is now being served to you. Enjoy.**

* * *

Panic filled Kuroka as soon as her senses started to return to her. It was a type of panic that she hadn't felt since she was a young child. A fear born from being powerless and helpless. This was what Kuroka felt when she awakened and realized she couldn't feel her demonic energy flowing through her body.

The Nekoshou rose from the couch she was situated on, her eyes filled with caution as she scanned the room. A sense of realization slowly crossed the girl's face as she recognized the place as the living room of the teenage boy she assaulted yesterday. The fear she was feeling quickly turned into anger as an angry scowl formed on her face.

"When I see that bastard I swear I'm going to mutilate his genitals." The young woman muttered to herself as she began to examine the rest of room. She had been rather agitated during her visit last night so she never got a chance to truly observe the room.

For a teenager living on himself, the place was surprisingly clean. Any damage that the girl may of done last night seemed to have been repaired as everything looked to be in working order. A small couch sat next to the one she had been laying on through the night. A mid-sized TV stood in direct view of both of the couches. A small coffee table sat within arm's length of the couches as well. The door that she was sure had splintered under her kick had been replaced with another one.

Kuroka made her way out of the living room and into the adjacent kitchen. The cooking area was rather small. It contained a compact oven that was alongside a microwave. The sink was directly next to the oven and a small amount of dirty dishes could be seen in it. All of the cabinets were closed but if one knew Naruto, they would be able to assume that they were filled with ramen. And their assumption would be 100% right.

"That lazy bastard is probably still asleep." Kuroka mumbled to herself as she made her way out of the kitchen. The Nekoshou quickly found the hallway leading to the master bedroom and began to follow it. As she walked down the hallway, the pictures hanging along it's walls caught her attention. Some of the images looked to be pictures of the blonde when he was younger along with some other kids. Some of those pictures showed the blonde alongside a pink haired girl, a dark haired boy and an older, silver-haired man. The other pictures showed the blonde standing beside a variety of other kids and adults.

The thing that really caught Kuroka's attention were the weird symbols that were either carved onto the wall's surface or were being held up by a picture frame. The symbols contained the complexity of the Clan seals that the devils used to identify their heritage. At random intervals, the seals would glow a light blue, making the house seem almost alive.

Kuroka's observation came to an end as she found herself in front of the door she assumed to be the master bedroom. The feline woman pressed her ear against the door, her ears straining to catch any indication that the blonde was awake. When her sensitive hearing picked up no sounds, she withdrew her head from the door and quietly opened the door. Kuroka ignored the interior of the room as she made her way over to the large covered up lump sitting in the middle of the bed. Her steps were quiet, almost soundless, as she approached her target. Her claws began to slide from out of her hands as she stood over the bed. Her scowl morphed into a twisted grin as she raised her hands into the air in preparation for her attack.

"Die, you bastard!" Kuroka yelled as she began to slash and swipe at the bedding. Her sharp nails cut right through the blankets and descended into the lump underneath. Cotton and fluff were thrown into the air as Kuroka continued to assault the bed for a full minute before finally pulling back, clearly out of breath. The girl observed her handywork, a smile on her face until she noticed the distinct lack of blood or screams coming from her "victim".

In a wild haste, the Nekoshou ripped the blankets off of her supposed victim. To the girl's horror, the lump underneath the ruined covers was not the blonde who had knocked her out. Instead it was a large pile of pillows that were arranged to resemble the shape of the boy. Laying on top of these pillows, strangely unharmed by Kuroka's assault, was a small note written in the blonde's handwriting.

"Hey! Glad you came to wake me up but by the time you're reading this, I'll most likely be gone for the day. I'll be back later in the day so just make yourself comfortable. P.S The collar around your neck restricts you from leaving the house so you should try to not break out during the day." Kuroka read out loud before glancing down at her neck, noting that there was indeed a collar on her. The girl reached up to tug at the collar and in return received a small shock for her actions.

"I'm going to kill him when I see him." Kuroka thought to herself as she approached the window of the room. The girl reached down to pull open the window and was awarded with a stronger shock, this one actually sending her to the ground.

"I HATE THAT BASTARD!" The girl yelled as she began to claw and strike wildly at everything around her. It looked like Naruto was going to have to be doing some more repairs when he got home.

* * *

"You have a wonderful day." Naruto said with a smile on his face as he handed a customer a small bag of sweets. The young woman offered him a sweet smile before taking the bag and walking out of the store.

"Another customer satisfied! This day can't get any better." Naruto exclaimed loudly, drawing the attention of the customers that were sitting in his shop. The weird looks being thrown at him forced a nervous laugh out of the blonde as he muttered a weak apology to his guest.

Naruto's laughter was quickly stolen from him when he felt a familiar presence enter his sensor range. The presence was walking towards his shop at a sedate place, its energy as dark as before. The blonde quickly made sure no customers were waiting for him to serve them before moving into the backroom.

Situated in the backroom of the shop was, surprisingly, another Naruto. This Naruto was sat in the middle of a large, glowing sealing array, his upper body exposed to the world. The blonde was settled in a meditative position, his breathing calm and controlled as he sucked in air methodically.

"Boss, I think you'll want to take this personally." Naruto's eyes snapped open at his clone's words. The glowing of the seal slowly faded away as the blonde rose to his feet.

"Yeah, I felt it as well. You can go ahead and dispel yourself. I'm pretty sure I can handle this myself." The clone offered its creator a nod before dispersing in a small cloud of smoke. With his clone gone, Naruto retrieved his shirt, placing the piece over himself then placing an apron overtop of it. The blonde then placed a large smile on his face before stepping back out into the shop's interior.

"Lucifer-san! It's so nice to see you again. Come to lose more of your money to me?" Naruto cheekily asked the red-headed man who was dressed in a black tuxedo. The carefree attitude the man usually had was gone as a nervous expression replaced it. The man was fidgety, constantly looking around the shop while tugging at his collar.

"A-ah … No, not today at least. I came to talk about something important." Sirzechs nervousness showed in his voice as it pitched up and down randomly.

"Sure! Not a problem for an old friend. Lay it on me." Naruto leaned his elbows onto the table while shooting the man an expectant look. Sirzech took a hard gulp as he scanned the room once more before returning his focus back to Naruto.

"Ah .. Can't we go somewhere a bit more private? Its, really, really important. I don't want anyone overhearing anything they shouldn't know." Naruto hummed thoughtfully for several seconds before gesturing to the customers sat at the bar beside him.

"Anything you can say in front of me, you can say in front of my customers. There's a little thing in this establishment that we share called trust." If possible, Sirzech appeared to become more nervous. The man was noticeably sweating at this point, constantly having to wipe at his forehead and face.

"It's really, really, REALLY important. Please let's go somewhere more private." Sirzech all but begged the boy. The desperation in his voice was apparent as the man looked as if he wanted to scream for help.

"I don't know…" Naruto trailed off while leaning his head on his chin. The devil looked to be close to tears at the boy's response.

" **Stop teasing the man and just listen to what he has to. I don't feel like watching a grown man cry today.** " Kurama commented, earning an internal chuckle from the blonde. Naruto decided to stop torturing the man and begun to take off his apron.

"Follow me." That was the only Naruto's only command before he disappeared into the back of the shop. The devil's face morphed into one of happiness at the sudden change of heart. Sirzech quickly hopped over the counter, completing foregoing the employee's entrance before dashing into the back of the shop.

* * *

Anger. That's what Ophis had been feeling for the past few hours. That seemed to be all that the girl felt ever since she encountered the blonde. The boy frustrated more than anyone had ever done before. Even the Great Red hadn't struck a nerve this badly with her.

When the girl had finally finished her fight with the Great Red, she had been fully prepared to capture the boy. While her energy had been somewhat depleted by her skirmish with the dragon, she was more than eager to capture the annoying blonde.

That's why when the girl had turned and discovered that the blonde had escaped from her once again, the girl had become filled with rage. In hindsight, it should've been rather obvious that the boy wouldn't just sit still and wait for her to finish her petty squabble. That didn't stop her from feeling angry. A large section of the dimensional rift had been faced her wrath on that day due to her anger

Now though, Ophis was calm. Calm mixed with righteous anger but still calm. Her temper tantrum had managed to clear away most of her anger. She was now able to think with a clear mind. Her clear mind was one of the reasons that she was able to endure the pig-headed man standing behind her.

Heracles was a muscular man, clearly taking after his ancestor. He stood at an intimidating 6 foot 6 inches, towering over most people she encountered. His muscular frame was only covered by a simple loincloth that shielded his crotch area from the world.. A simple club was slung over the man's shoulder, seemingly being his weapon of choice.

"Why'd you summon me, girl? I have more important things to deal with so whatever it is, let's just make it quick." Heracles said to the god's back. The man's flippant attitude was a clear sign of disrespect to the God, something that Ophis took notice of.

Heracles quickly found himself unable to speak as a black snake constricted around his neck. The snake originated from under Ophis' dress, showing that the girl was in control of the creature. The snake had its fang aimed at the man's neck, ready to end it's prey's life.

"While you are in my presence, you will not speak as I have grown beyond tired of your insolence. The next words you utter out your mouth while I'm around will be your last. Do you understand?" Heracles raised his hands to tear the snakes from his neck. Sensing the man's intention, the snake plunged it's fangs into Heracles' neck, forcing a loud scream out of him. The snake slowly uncoiled itself from the man's neck before slithering back towards its creator.

"I have injected your body with some of my power. It should prove to be a substantial boost to your dismal reserves. If you do not bring me the blonde within a week, I will rot your body from the inside out. Now fetch me Naruto Uzumaki. He is located in the town of Kuoh. Return with the boy or return to your death." Ophis turned her back on the man as a bright light consumed his body. Without a say in the matter, the descendant of Hercules disappeared from the dimensional rift.

"You'll see me soon, Uzumaki. For now I must rest, I know now that you require my full strength and I will not allow you to escape me once more."

* * *

"You want me to bake you a cake?" When the leader of the underworld had stepped into his shop, Naruto had suspected a lot of things to happen. Although he was unaware of the men's title, he was still aware of the body the man had. He had already encountered the fallen angels and the angels so the blonde could safely assume that this man was a devil. Plus his relationship with the Rias girl and Koneko sort of gave it away.

That was why Naruto had been prepared to fight. He had at least expected the redhead to at least threaten him, even if it was only verbally. But when the man had broken down and begged him for a cake, Naruto had been caught off guard.

"Yes, a cake. A white chocolate cake to be exact." Sirzech said. Naruto stared at the man's face for several seconds, searching for any signs of deceit. The request was so ridiculous and out of nowhere that it was hard for the blonde to take the man seriously.

"May I ask why you need a white chocolate cake? And why did you come to me of all people. It doesn't make much sense to me." A guilty look crossed Sirzech face as he looked away from the teen. It was the first time Naruto had seen the man display an emotion other than happiness, nervousness or stupidity.

"Well the person who I would usually go to isn't exactly the happiest with me. And I've heard some good things about your desserts from Koneko." Naruto took notice of the change of subject, marking it down in his head for a later date.

"You do realize why I'm a bit skeptical about this? You were just trying to buy my shop only a week ago. How do I know that you won't claim I poisoned you or something while trying to ruin my business."

"Uzumaki-san, PLEASE. I need your help. You don't realize how important this is to m-" Sirzechs begging was put to a rest as a small ringing reached his and Naruto's ears. The shinobi gestured for the man to remain where he was before quickly rushing to the front of the shop.

To the boy's pleasant surprise, the person who greeted him at the counter was none other than his girlfriend. The girl's bookbag was slung over her shoulder as her hand rested on the small silver bell that was on his counter

"Neko-chan, I didn't expect to see you. Aren't you supposed to be in school?" The smile that had appeared on the boy's face when he recognized her brought a great joy to Koneko's heart. Knowing that her boyfriend felt that happy just from seeing her made the girl ecstatic.

"School was let out early. Apparently, Sona-san managed to convince the administration to give us a half day." Koneko stated. Naruto nodded at her words and looked as if he was about to speak but was interrupted by another voice.

"Koneko-chan, it's nice to see you." Naruto shot the red-headed devil an annoyed glance as the man exited the backroom of the shop, making his presence known to the Nekoshou. The low-class devil looked in between the two men, confusion clear in her eyes. Her eyes settled on Sirzech first, her confusion switching to slight irritation.

"What are you doing here for Gremory-san?" Sirzech face quickly took on a mask of panic as he began to wave his hands around frantically in front of his face.

"It's nothing bad, I swear! Rias did not send me here to hurt or threaten Naruto-san." The skepticism in Koneko's eyes made it clear to the man that she didn't believe a single word, causing him to sigh.

"I … Grayfia is pretty angry with me." Koneko's skepticism immediately disappeared as it was replaced with a look of understanding. While Grayfia was known as the loyal maid of the gremory house and the even more loyal wife of Sirzech, the woman had the man on a very tight leash. His schedule, his work and even some of his actions were regulated by the woman. Koneko knew this, Rias knew this and almost of the underworld knew this. Sirzech was indeed a strong man but even he knew that he didn't exactly wear the pants in the relationship.

That's why when Grayfia had returned from visiting Rias, her anger clear to the world, Sirzech knew he had messed up. The maid hadn't even addressed him, choosing to head straight to the catch to get started on her "maid duties". Sirzech knew just from her actions that the meeting had gone bad, his fear being confirmed when he received a call from Akeno who explained to him how the meeting had gone.

When the queen had told him that Riser had attacked Rias' peerage, the devil had wanted to teleport to the Phenex compound and burn it all to the ground. A couple hundred years ago, he was sure he would've went ahead and actually gone through with the idea. Years of training and responsibility, however, had taught him better.

That didn't mean the situation didn't upset Sirzech. He knew that even though Grayfia was only Rias' sister-in-law, the maid treated the girl as if she was her actual sister. Grayfia had looked after the little girl since her birth. To see the girl she raised be in pain must've struck hard at the woman's heart. It must've hurt the woman even more considering her husband was the one who signed off on the thing that was causing her the pain.

When Sirzech originally agreed to the marriage contract, Rias had been just a baby. He hadn't gotten to know the girl that he would grow to love more than almost anything else in the world. His focus wasn't on her betterment but on the betterment of the clan. It was a line of thinking that he regretted ever having. If he had known just how much his sister would mean to him, he would've never gone through with it. If he had known Riser's true nature, he would've said fuck the clan and ripped up the paper as soon as it touched his desk.

Unfortunately, he hadn't done that and now had to live with the guilt of knowing he potentially doomed his little sister to an eternity with Riser Phenex. In his guilt, he had managed to negotiate a Rating game between the two in an attempt to at least give the girl a fighting chance. But even he knew that that was nowhere near enough to appease for his mistakes.

"I understand. What do you plan on getting her?" A small smirk appeared on Sirzech face as he slid Naruto a sly glance.

"I planned on ordering a cake from your boyfriend over here but he was being very inconsiderate. You wouldn't mind helping me convince him, right Koneko-chan?" Mentally, Sirzech was doing a dance in his head as he finally found a way to get his cake. He knew that Koneko-chan would stick up for him and come to his rescue!

"Yes I do mind. Deal with your own problems, Sirzech-baka. Stop trying to drag Naruto-kun into it." Sirzech's dance came to a screeching halt at the girl's cold response. The man was frozen in shock as Koneko hopped over the counter and propped herself on a stool beside Naruto, pushing past the the Satan in the process.

"Koneko … Naruto…" The couple glanced at the red-headed man as he slowly began to turn towards them. To their surprise, tears could be seen in his eyes as his bottom lip quivered wildly.

"YOU GUYS ARE BOTH SO MEAN." The man yelled, catching the attention of everyone in the shop as the redhead collapsed to the ground. A river of tears began to exit the man's eyes as he continued to wail out loudly on the floor. Both Naruto and Koneko watched the devil convulse and cry on the floor with a mixture of disgust and even more disgust. This type of behavior was unfitting for a man. It was even more unfitting for the supposed strongest devil in the underworld.

"Naruto-kun.." Koneko called out to her boyfriend as she watched the man continue to cry.

"Yeah Ko-chan?" Naruto couldn't tear his eyes away from the man, even to respond. His actions had just been so sudden and unexpected that it caught the blonde completely off guard.

"Just bake him the cake. I think some of your customers are starting to get freaked out." Naruto finally managed to look away from the crying grown man in order to inspect the people in his shop. Just as Koneko said, they were all looking at the trio with creeped out expressions on their faces.

"Fine, I'll bake him a cake as long as he stops crying." Like a switch had been flipped, the tears coming out of Sirzech stopped as the man hopped to his feet. A large smile was on the man's face as he sprinted over to Naruto and wrapped the teen in a giant bear hug.

"You have no idea how happy you just made me!" Sirzech said as he swung Naruto back and forth in the air. The sage allowed the man for hold him for a couple of seconds before pushing him, forcing the redhead to drop him to the ground.

"As much as I enjoy this touching feeling, I need to be on the ground in order to make the cake. You can come back by the end of the day and it should be ready" Sirzech shot the boy an understanding nod before hopping his way back over the counter.

"Thank you once again, Naruto-kun. I owe you big time!" The man yelled, his loud voice carrying through the shop, once again catching the customer's attention, before he ran out the door. Naruto and Koneko watched the man sprint down the streets of Kuoh and eventually disappear around a corner.

"That is one very strange man."

"You have no idea just how right you are."

* * *

"Why is this so difficult?" Koneko asked herself as she nursed the abused crown of her head. The girl was sat in the middle of the clearing that she had started to call the "Hell Circle" due to her experiences in it. A half moon was high in the sky, providing the girl with a small amount of light during her training.

"It's difficult because you're making it difficult. How do you expect to use this power if you have so much fear of it?" Naruto was sat directly beside the girl. The blonde was dressed modestly in a t-shirt with the Uzumaki seal painted on it and a pair of shorts. His spiky hair waved softly from side to side as a slight wind blew through the clearing.

"Its not as simple as just not being afraid anymore. I was taught since I was a child that senjutsu was bad. You can't just expect me to just change that opinion over night." Koneko snapped at Naruto, earning her a raised eyebrow from the boy. The Nekoshou took a deep breath before muttering soft apology to the boy, the frustrations of the day clearly getting to her.

"You don't have to apologize Ko-chan, I understand your frustration. I went through the same thing when I was first learning. I don't expect you to get this overnight. This is a very hard and dangerous technique that my own master wasn't even able to complete. Don't expect to get this down immediately." Koneko lowered her head as she balled her fist up.

"I need to get it down soon though. I need this edge in order to make a difference in the Rating Game. I need this." Naruto could see the girl was beginning to shake slightly due to her anger. A small frown crossed the boy's face as he watched his girlfriend struggle in her anger. He knew the internal struggle the girl was going through and it hurt him to watch her. So he decided to do something about it

Koneko was snapped out of her pity party when she felt a strong pair of hands wrapped around her midsection. Before she could even acknowledge what was happening, the girl found herself in the air for a brief second before being placed into her boyfriend's lap.

All of the tension left the her body when she felt her boyfriend's hand land on her scalp. Without her even noticing, her Nekoshou ears revealed themselves to the world. The girl seemed to melt into the blonde's lap as he scratched at the girl's ears. A gentle purr began to emit from her throat as she succumbed to her boyfriend's ministrations.

After Naruto had discovered that Koneko had cat ears and a tail, the boy was immediately drawn to them. When they were together alone, he would spend hours just playing with them, driving the girl to euphoria with each session. Naruto had quickly discovered the effect his actions had on the devil and quickly started to abuse his powers. Whenever the Nekoshou found herself frustrated or agitated with the blonde, he would quickly begin to rub her head or tail. She hated to admit it but she couldn't stay mad at the boy longer after he finished.

"Stop...distracting...me." Koneko managed to force out while under the effects of her boyfriend's hands. Naruto ignored the girl as her tail slowly wiggled its way out from under her pants and into his lap. The boy's free hand immediately latched onto the appendage, causing the girl to freeze in his lap. A blissful sigh exitted her mouth as the blonde's hand ran up and down her tail.

"You need some distraction right now. You're worrying yourself too much." Naruto spoke while focusing his attention on the her tail and ears. The boy could see that the girl was getting consumed by her training and he knew where that could lead her. So he decided to end the problem before it began and distract the girl with some good ole ear scratching.

The sweet moment between the couple was ruined when a violent quake ripped through the ground unexpectedly. Naruto's hands left Koneko's body as his head snapped towards the treeline of the clearing.

"What is that?" Koneko said as she stood from her boyfriend's lap. Naruto was already up to his feet, his eyes searching continuously scanning reeline as the earth began to shake more frequently and violently.

"I just can't catch a break." Naruto muttered to himself, catching Koneko's attention as the earth shook once again. Everything went quiet for several seconds, sending the two teens on edge as they waited something to happen.

The two didn't have to wait for long as a loud yelling reached their ears. Naruto's head shot up towards the sky and his immediately eyes locked onto the human shape that was speeding through the air towards the duo. The shape seemed to be the source of the noise as it grew louder as the figure grew closer.

Within seconds, the man slammed into the clearing, cracking the ground beneath him as he landed in a crouch. The man released a dark chuckle as he rose to his full height of an impressive two meters with a wooden club in hand. The man's body looked to had been sculpted from rock as it was covered in a mountain of muscles. The man's brown locks reached down to his shoulder while his piercing green eyes contained a hungry look. His veins were pulsing a sickening green beneath his skin, tipping Naruto off that this man was indeed not normal.

"I presume you are Naruto Uzumaki?" The man asked while levelling his club at the boy. Naruto gave the man a short nod while Koneko looked in between the two. The club wielder released a booming laugh while shouldering his weapon.

"Good! I was beginning to think this would take long but now that I've found you, this should be quick." The man lifted his foot up in the air before sending it crashing down into the ground, cracking and splintering it even more. "Ophis wants you and I'm going to drag you back to her, no matter what it takes.

"Ophis? As in the mythical dragon god, Ophis?" Naruto released a nervous chuckle at his girlfriend's question, internally attempting to come up with a way to worm his way of this situation. Fortunately for the blonde, his explanation would be put on a slight hold as the muscular man took off charging towards him.

"I came to fight, not talk!" The man yelled as he charged at the blonde. Naruto was almost impressed at the speed the man possessed considering his massive form. He hadn't seen someone so large move that fast since A or B. Unfortunately for the descendant of Hercules, he was still nowhere near fast enough to match the blonde.

Naruto was caught off guard when he saw a white blur shoot past him as the man approached him. The blur, who Naruto quickly deduced to be Koneko, met the half-naked man halfway through his charge and planted a heavy haymaker into the man's stomach, stopping him in his tracks.

"You … you dare touch me?" The man muttered as he looked down at the Nekoshou. An angry scowl had replaced the man's confident look as his eyes locked onto his assaulter. Koneko stood in shock at the fact that her punch hadn't affected the man. She had put the entirety of her strength behind that one and he didn't even flinch.

"No one touches the great Heracles! Especially not a little girl like you." The man screamed. Before Koneko knew it, the man had raised his club from his shoulder and had it inches away from her skull. Koneko, realizing that she could not move away fast enough to avoid the hit, quickly prepared herself to take the hit.

Fortunately for the girl's health, Heracles was stopped midway through his swing when he felt a hard force slam into his cheek. The man was lifted from his feet as his club sent was sent flying out of his hand. His body was sent flying through the air, eventually crashing into one of the trees that made up the edge of the clearing.

"Are you okay?" Koneko lifted her head from the ground in order to look up at the voice. Naruto stood protectively over her body, his fist outstretched from his last attack. Her eyes immediately locked onto the orange pigmentation that surrounded the boy's eyes

"Your eyes.." Naruto looked confused for a brief second before slapping himself in the head once he realized what the girl was talking about.

"This happens whenever I am in sage mode. It's a byproduct of me working alongside toads during my training." Koneko nodded her head as she examined the boy's body. The calming feeling she had felt earlier was now back in full force as it literally spilt out from the blonde. Just being in his presence made the girl feel safe.

"So this is how sage mode is supposed to feel in action.." Koneko muttered as her eyes stayed locked onto the blonde. Naruto watched as Heracles pushed away the tree that had fallen onto him. If the man had been angry before, he was absolutely living now.

"You dare harm me? I'll tear you apart for defiling my greatness." The man shouted before running at the pair. Koneko tensed as she prepared to take off at the man again but was halted when Naruto's hand landed on her shoulder. The blonde looked down at the girl and offered her a small smile.

"Just sit back and watch, Ko-chan. I'm going to show you what you can really do when using natural chakra the right way ." The girl could do nothing but nod as the boy turned back to the charging man.

Just as Koneko had done, Naruto decided to meet the man halfway. The blonde was nothing but a blur to both the Nekoshou and the hero as he crossed the distance between the two within the blink of an eye, appearing in a crouch right in front of the man. Heracles had no time to react as Naruto spun and sent his foot crashing into the man's midsection, shattering his ribs on impact. Blood was sent rocketing out of the man's mouth as his broken ribs tore into his organs.

The man was offered no rest as Naruto grabbed onto his head, stopping the man from reaching the ground, before slamming it down into the earth. The boy lifted the the man's head several inches up before viciously slamming it back into the ground.

The blonde repeated this process for several seconds before grabbing onto Heracles with both of his hands and sending the man flying high into the air. The boy then went through a small chain of handsigns before inhaling a deep breath and unleashing a massive wind bullet at the airborne man. The bullet slammed into the Heracles, ripping into the man's body as he was sent flying out of sight.

" **Don't you think that was a bit unnecessary**?" Kurama asked as he watched through Naruto's eyes as Heracles' figure disappeared over the horizon.

"He tried to hurt Koneko. He deserved every last bit of it." Naruto said sharply. The boy gave off a satisfied sigh then turned around only to meet eyes with a rather agitated Koneko.

"You have a lot of explaining to do, Naruto-kun."

* * *

 **AN: Hello all you wonderful ladies and gents. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Not really much to say about this one. The Hercules fight was pretty one-sided as I consider the gap being Naruto's strength, speed, technique, etc and Hercules' to be too big to even measure. I apologize for that.**

 **Thats really all I have to say. Review or pm me with any questions, comments, concerns, etc. Hope you all have an amazing rest of the day. Peace.**

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 **Also there's a very short omake.**

* * *

 **SUPER SPICY OMAKE:**

Naruto released an exhausted groan as he stepped into his house, closing the newly repaired door shut behind him. The boy had just spent the past several hours explaining to Koneko how a dragon god wanted to take control of his body and use it to fight a gigantic red dragon. The girl had been rather upset when she had discovered all of this. He had to spend a full hour trying to calm the girl, of course after receiving several hits to the head that were emphasized by Koneko yelling "Baka" with each hit.

"Today has been such a long day." The boy muttered out loud to himself as he flicked the lights on in his home. The boy began to walk to his kitchen to grab himself a bowl of ramen but froze midway through his journey as he stumbled upon a horrendous sight.

His cabinets had been completely ripped from the wall and his ramen had been torn from the cabinet. Hundreds of containers of ramen laid piled up in the corner of the room. Their content laid in the middle of the kitchen floor, the strong scent of piss coming from their noodly form.

"She… She didn't..No. This must be a bad dream. This can't be real." Naruto muttered to himself as he collapsed to his knees. Naruto's head almost twisted off when he heard a light giggle coming from his bedroom. The boy jumped to his feet and dashed to his room, intent on catching the person who had defiled his ramen.

"Nya! Nice of you to finally get home." Laying in HIS bed was Kuroka who looked to be eating the last edible cup of HIS ramen. The girl looked to be as happy as she could be as she slurped down a forkful of ramen.

"I'm going to kill you." Naruto said as he watched the girl throw away the now empty ramen container. The Nekoshou stuck her tongue out at the boy before running and locking herself in the bathroom.

"OPEN THIS DAMN DOOR AND PAY FOR YOUR SINS!" Naruto screamed as he banged against the wooden door. The girl's mad giggling could be heard from behind the protection of the door, clearly enjoying the blonde's anger.

"An eye for an eye, Naruto-kun. You put a collar on me and in return, I take away what you love and care about the most."

"A collar doesn't even come close to how much that ramen meant to me."

"Meh, don't feel too bad. It didn't taste that good anyway, Nya!"

"YOU TAKE THAT BACK, YOU BASTARD"

And thus, a beautiful relationship was formed.


	12. Chapter 12

The time had finally come. After two excruciatingly long weeks, the time for the rating game had finally showed up. All the effort, sweat, blood and tears that the Rias and her peerage had shed was finally going to be put on display.

Koneko sucked in a deep breath as she checked over herself once again. The girl was sat upon the couch in the clubroom. She was by herself, completed isolated from everyone else, as they also checked over their own equipment and supplies.

The last two weeks for the girl had been hard, both physically and mentally. She had been forced to push herself further than she had ever done before. Going through school then immediately diving into training with Rias was hard enough. Leaving that training to go practice senjutsu with her slave driver of a boyfriend made it so much harder.

"Naruto..." The girl thought to herself as she inspected the small armlet wrapped around her forearm. The armlet had been a gift from the blonde given to her from the night before. The boy claimed it was made from a material that was more sensitive to natural chakra and could assist her with drawing it in. The girl had no further success in using nature's energy with it on but she still appreciated the effort.

Though she did know that the gift was also partly given in a "I'm sorry"-like manner. When Naruto had finally revealed to her his connection with Ophis and her pursuit of him, Koneko had been upset. Actually, upset was a rather mild way to put it. She was pissed. Partly because she was worried for the blonde and and partly because he had hid something so big from her.

She had decided to punish him by refusing to speak to him, even during their training session. The blonde didn't even last a full day before he began to almost beg for her to speak again. A part of her had been touched at his immediate reaction to her stoicism while another part of her felt that breaking so soon wouldn't really being punishing the boy.

Eventually, though, she couldn't keep up the frosty behavior with the boy and broke down. The depressed blonde just had an air about him that saddened Koneko whenever she was near him. Hearing his downtrodden tone and seeing the sad look on his face was just too much for the girl to handle in the end.

"Koneko." The nekoshou was snapped out of her trance by the calm voice of Kiba. The knight looked to be as calm as ever as he stood in front of his fellow peerage member. Koneko could spot the two swords that were strapped to his hips and the large cleaver on his back. The knight looked like he was ready for war.

"Ah … I'm sorry Yuuto-san. What were you saying?" Koneko asked as she began to tighten the gloves around her fist.

"I asked if you were ready? We are almost about to head out." Koneko nodded her head, earning her a small nod from the knight before he turned and walked back to the rest of the group, leaving the girl alone once again.

"Well … It's now or never." She thought to herself as she settled herself into a meditative position. This was her final chance to put what she learned from Naruto into use. And she wouldn't fail.

* * *

Naruto's hand brushed up against the low hanging foliage of the forest as he made his way around the clearing. As his fingers made contact with the greenery, the plants seemed to almost light up. Their dull green turned brilliant as a mixture of Naruto's chakra and natural chakra flowed through them.

" **Stop worrying so much. You're starting to agitate me.** " Naruto sighed at his partner's voice as he started making his way to the center of the clearing.

"I can't help but worry. You saw how was she was this morning. She wasn't focus. She looked like crap. She was barely able to even say goodbye when she left." Naruto said as he flopped down onto the ground, smushing the grass underneath his body.

" **You did everything you could do for her. Worrying about it now isn't going to help either of you at this point. Now shut up and move out the way.** " Naruto rolled several times to his right, just barely avoiding the wooden club that smashed into his previous position. Connected to the mace was a fully clothed and pissed off Heracles.

"I'm glad that you managed to find your towel. I really didn't want to see you naked." Naruto said to the man from his position on the ground. The blonde was laid on his stomach while looking up at the muscular man. Heracles released a loud huff as he extracted the club from the ground and shouldered the weapon.

"Fool. In my culture, us MEN are proud of our body. I am proud to show off what the Gods have gifted me with." The man proclaimed before beginning to flex. Naruto watched in disgust as the hero struck several different pose, each pose accentuating a different part of the man's body.

" **The greeks were really full of themselves, weren't they?** " Kurama asked as the man continued to pose in front of the two. Naruto gave the kitsune a single nod as Heracles finally stopped his "gun show".

"Enough of this banter! You may of deceived me the first time but I will not allow such trickery to outsmart the great Heracles." The man yelled while pointing his club at the teen.

"I wasn't the one who was talking plus if I remember correctly, I didn't trick you. I just beat the crap out of you." Heracles paid the blonde no mind as he charged at the boy once again, his movements very reminiscent of his first assault attempt. Seemed like the muscle-bound man hadn't learned from his mistakes.

"In the name of Zeus, I smite the-" Heracles' speech was turned into a violent string of coughing when Naruto slammed his fist the man's throat. The hero was sent collapsing to the ground, grasping at his throat as he tried to suck in air from his abused throat.

"You … dare… touch… me?" The man managed to say in between his strangled coughs. He could barely talk through his partially crushed windpipe.

" **Why don't you just end him right here? This is the second time and I doubt you want to start making this a habit**." Kurama suggested.

"I can't just go around killing everyth-" Naruto struck his foot out, slamming it into Heracles' head just as the man recovered from his original coughing fit. The hero was sent crashing onto his back, clutching onto his now bleeding skull.

"-ing or everyone that agitates me a little. Lets just see if we can convince him to leave us alone for now." Naruto cut off the connection between him and his partner just as Heracles' pain filled screams died down. The man was now slowly staggering to his feet, using his wooden club to help balance his shaky form. The hero's eyes screamed bloody murder as they stayed lock onto Naruto.

"If you're finished trying to kill me, I think there may be a way for us to talk it out. There's no need for us to fight each other." Heracles let out a loud huff of air as he managed to finally support himself completely.

"No! There will be no talking. It is your fault that I've been tasked with such a demeaning job and you will pay." With that single, loud and declarative shout the man's body began to grow. The black tint that could be seen in his veins previously seemed to grow darker as the man grew bigger. A dark energy began to seep out of the man's body, giving him a demented appearance.

"This energy stinks of Ophis. Is this what she was planning to do with me if I agreed to her request?" Naruto watched as the tainted man shattered his club within his hands, leaving him weaponless. The hero, if he could be called that at this point, didn't seem to be too bothered by the loss of the weapon as he stared down Naruto with a twisted smirk on his face.

"Now you shall face the true power of Olympus. Shake in fear, mortal!" Heracles screamed before slamming his fist into the ground, actually managing to uproot the earth under Naruto's feet in the process. The shinobi quickly jumped away from the unstable ground and landed near the edge of the clearing, completely unharmed by the ground strike.

"Well his strength definitely seems to have increased. It's a lot closer to his ancestors than it was before. It's probably a good idea that I don't let him hit me." The blonde thought to himself as he watched Heracles buried his fist into the ground. To the teen's surprise, the man ripped out a giant chunk of the earth with nothing but his brute strength. With a loud grunt of effort, Heracles lifted the forest ground above his head and began to laugh maniacally.

"Now you see the true power of the Greeks!" He yelled before throwing the man made boulder at the blonde. The chunk of earth went sailing through the air at fast speeds, little pieces of it breaking off during its process.

Within a few seconds, the boulder slammed into Naruto's position, exploding in a massive cloud of dust, grass and dirt. Heracles watched from afar, a large smile on his face as he waited for the dust to clear. The arrogant man was sure that his last attack had ended the annoying pest of a blonde.

"That was pretty surprising." Heracles' eyes widened at the voice that came from behind him. The man quickly spun around and drove his fist towards the blonde who had sped behind him. The blonde sidestepped the blow, allowing the fist to barrel harmlessly past his head. Naruto, taking advantage of the man's wide open stance, drove his fist straight into the man's stomach. The blonde's fist buried itself deep into the hero's stomach, causing a wad of spit to come shooting out of his mouth.

To the blonde's further shock, the spit was the only reaction he got from the man. Well that and the boastful laughter that started to exit his mouth. Naruto quickly retracted his fist when he felt the man's muscle begin to ripple and shake along his fist.

"Your weak attacks mean nothing to me! They only heal me! Strength from pain!" The man screamed at the top of his lungs before dashing over to a tree. With a single hand, the man uprooted a tree from its position and threw it directly at Naruto.

The blonde, not wanting to be struck at the giant missile, quickly dashed to the side. The tree sped past the shinobi, resulting in a loud booming noise as it eventually crashed into the ground. The teen did not react to the crashing sound, instead choosing to see how the hulking behemoth would react. And boy was the teen not disappointed.

"SIT STILL." Heracles screamed as he began to rip up every tree in his vicinity and throw it at his elusive opponent. If the man had taken a second to stop and observe the blonde, he probably would've quickly figured out that no matter how hard he threw, the boy was still going to dodge. Unfortunately for the masculine man, he never took that second.

Heracles' temper tantrum continued for several minutes until a mixture of his exhaustion and a lack of trees forced him to stop. The man stood panting, clearly out of breath, in a wide barren circle that marked his path of destruction.

"You … annoying … brat. You still haven't fallen." The man gaped out in between deep gulps of breath. Naruto looked utterly bored as the man's temper started to flare once again.

"No matter! This will finish you." Heracles proclaimed before pressing his hands together. Naruto watched curiously as Ophis' energy began to slowly pour out of the man. The energy was without form for the first couple of seconds before slowly taking form. The dark energy formed into the shape of a roaring lion's head behind the man. The hero released a deep and booming laugh as the lion seemed to roar at the same time.

"I will smite you in the name of Olympus." With those words, Heracles disappeared from Naruto's sight. The blonde felt a slight disturbance in the air from behind him, causing him to duck. His instincts paid off as Heracles appeared behind the teen and attempted to take off his head with a vicious haymaker.

While ducked down, the shinobi swung his legs around in a large arc, knocking Heracles off of his feet. The man managed to steady himself before he slammed into the ground. With his balance back, Heracles released a loud growl before slamming his fist down onto the crown of Naruto's head, causing the blonde to disappear in a cloud of smoke.

"What type of sorcery is this? I want to see blood, not smoke!" The angered man yelled as he stared at the quickly dispersing cloud of smoke. His attention was stolen away from the cloud when he an agonizing pain slam into the back of his head. The hero suddenly found himself in the air as a headache quickly began to spread through his head.

Naruto watched in his sage mode as his "opponent's" flight ended with a rough face plant into the ground. A groan escaped out of the blonde's mouth as the hero began to climb back up. The blonde had hoped that the hit would've kept the hero down.

Heracles spat out a mouthful of dirt as he hopped back up to his feet. The man's eyes quickly locked onto Naruto, the twin emerald orbs narrowing in anger at the sight of the shop owner. He quickly reached out and grabbed at one of the downed tree he had landed by. The man's thick finger dug into the tough bark of the tree as he hefted the vegetation up as if it weighed nothing.

" **Looks like your buddy has found himself a new toy.** " Naruto let out a scoff as the hero began to swing the tree back and forth, seemingly testing the usefulness of his new weapon. Once satisfied with his test run, Heracles' eyes shifted back to Naruto.

"I will smite you!"

"You already said that." Naruto's backhanded comment went flying over the older male's head as Heracles attempted to bring the tree crashing down onto Naruto. The blonde merely rolled out of the way, allowing the thick trunk of the tree t slam against the ground and not against his body. Heracles didn't seem to enjoy the casual dodging of his attack as the man released a loud growl before beginning to spin. The man's rotations began to speed up as the tree he was holding swept around in a large arc.

Naruto, once he had saw what the man was planning, quickly jumped out of the way of the tree's path. Either unknowing or uncaring that his target was now out of range, Heracles continued to spin.

"He definitely is not the brightest person you've faced." Naruto couldn't help but agree at his partner's assessment as the man continued to spin. After several seconds of observing him, the blonde had finally decided that enough was enough and that it was time to end this "match".

With a silent command, 4 clones appeared next to Naruto. The clones glanced at the leader before giving each other a small nod and disappearing from the blonde's side.

Heracles' "devastating spin attack" was put to a rest when he felt a solid kick land against his back. The tree was sent flying out of the man's hand as he ascended upwards from the force of the kick. The man flew upward for several seconds until he looked to be slowing down, only for a clone to appear beneath him and kick at the man's back, pushing upward even more.

This process continued two more times until Heracles was well over a hundred feet in the air. Just as the man reached the apex of his flight, the original Naruto appeared above him with his leg raised to the sky. Time seemed to stop momentarily as the two opponents floated in mid-air briefly before Naruto brought his leg crashing down onto Heracles. All of the man's momentum was shifted downwards as he took off towards earth.

It didn't take long for the man to get reacquainted with the ground once again as he slammed into it seconds after Naruto's kick, throwing up a miniature cloud of smoke in the process. Naruto gently landed amongst the tree as the small dust cloud dispersed, revealing a knocked out Heracles. The energy that had surrounded the man had disappeared, returning him to his original muscularity. He laid face first in the dirt, completely naked as his loincloth seemed to have gotten torn off during his return flight.

"That is definitely not something I wanted to see today." Naruto mumbled to himself while covering his eyes from Heracles bare ass. The blonde jumped down from his tree and slowly quickly approached the downed man, making sure to avoid looking at the man's bare ass on his way there.

" **What do you plan to do with him?"**

"What do you mean by what do I plan on doing with him? There's nothing for me to do with him?"

" **You can't just leave him here.** "

"Who says I can't? Just watch me." And with that, the blonde made a hundred and eighty degree turn and walked away, leaving Heracles naked and lying face down in the dirt.

* * *

She had failed. She had failed herself, she had failed Naruto and she had failed Rias.

"Why won't it work? Please work!" A hushed voice yelled to itself as the sound of explosions and roaring flames could be heard in the background. Koneko cursed, something that was rather uncharacteristic of the girl, as the flames around her only seemed to grow. The nekoshou was crouched behind a rock, her breath coming in short pants as she clutched at her bleeding shoulder.

Everything had immediately gone to shit as soon as the match had started. The strategy that Rias had laid out failed immediately. Their thinking that they had a home field advantage had been their biggest mistake. Every move they made, one of Riser's pieces seemed to be there to counteract it.

It had started off when Rias had sent Kiba and Koneko to capture the gym. The redhead had expected the duo to meet a small force consisting of some of Riser's pawn. With the training they had been through, the pawns shouldn't of been a problem for the knight-rook duo.

In truth, the pawns would've been an easy challenge for the two. But they hadn't expected Riser to send one of his strongest pieces, his bomber queen, to capture the gym stronghold. As soon as the two walked into the gym, they had fallen right into her trap. The queen had laced the entire gym with explosives. They hadn't realized it until it was too late.

Riser's queen had set off the explosives, immediately retiring Kiba and sending Koneko blasting from out of the building. The girl was sure that if it wasn't for her chess piece enhancements, she would've been retired right along with her comrade. Instead she had been sent flying across campus until eventually slamming into the campus boundaries.

And this is how Koneko found herself kneeling behind a rock, her face twisted in a mask of frustration and concentration as she attempted to pull on the natural energy of the world. She was having no luck with it as each failed attempt drove her deeper and deeper into her frustration.

"Please work.." The girl whispered to herself as she began to close her eyes for one more attempt. A loud explosion, this one closer than any of the others, interrupted her before she could even start.

 _[Rias's Queen has been Retired]_

Tears began to pool in the girl's eyes when the announcement finished playing. Their chances of winning were quickly drifting away. Kiba was gone, Akeno was gone, she had no idea where Issei or Asia was and she was injured.

"So this is where you've been hiding?" Koneko's head snapped up at the sound of the voice. The girl's stomach dropped when she took in the flying form of Riser's Queen. A mad grin was plastered across the young woman's face as she stared down at the nekoshou.

"I was a bit disappointed when you didn't retire from my first attack. You've made this match drag on for far too long." Koneko was forced to jump from her hiding spot as the Queen started to bombard her with her attacks.

The girl was a blur as she dashed across campus with Riser's queen in hot pursuit. She dashed back and forth, barely dodging the explosive attacks that were being sent at her by her opponent.

"I need to find cover." Koneko thought to herself as she suddenly changed the direction she was travelling in, just barely dodging an explosive ball of devil energy that slammed into the ground not even a second later.

"You can try to run and hide all you want, little kitten, but I will find you." Yubelluna melodious voice floated through the air as she flew after Koneko. A small ball of energy formed in the woman's hand as she began to descend closer to the fleeing Koneko.

"Die kitty!" The purple-haired woman yelled as she released her attack at the girl. The ball of flames travelled through the air, growing larger and larger in the air is it approached the girl. At the last second, the Nekoshou turned around only to come face to face with a massive ball of fire. The girl quickly crossed her arms and braced herself for impact.

* * *

"Can I come home and not find it destroyed at least once?" Naruto asked to himself as he stepped inside of his house. The blonde had just got finished his 'fight' with Heracles and returned home with plans of relaxing. Unfortunately, his plans of relaxation was thrown out of the window when he noticed the state the interior of his house was in.

The cushions of his couch had been completely ripped apart. Clumps of fluff and feathers were scattered all across the room. Random containers of both food and drink could be seen lying in the living, some empty and some half full. The curtains that usually up in the windows had sharp claw marks in them and were lying uselessly on the floor. And in the middle of all this chaos was a carefree Kuroka.

"Maybe when you take this collar off and let me go." The nekoshou responded as she hopped to her feet. Naruto shook his head as several clones appeared in puffs of smoke before beginning to clean up the mess the woman had created.

"And let you have your power and freedom back so you can try and kill me? I don't think so." A pout formed on Kuroka's face as she quickly made her way over to the blonde. The sensual girl latched herself to Naruto's side, her cleavage conveniently pressed against his arm.

"Awwwwh but I promise that I won't try to kill you again. So pwetty pwease take this mean collar off of me?" Kuroka emphasized her request by pressing herself even more against Naruto. The girl's advances were met with a deadpan look from the boy, causing her sweet expression to quickly sour. With a light growl, the girl swiped at the blonde, burying her claws in his throat and forcing him to disperse in a cloud of smoke.

"I still can't tell the difference between the real one and his clones." Kuroka mumbled to herself as she glanced around at the room full of clones. After several seconds of observation, the devil released a sigh of defeat before making her way to the master bedroom.

To the Nekoshou's pleasant surprise, she discovered another Naruto within the bedroom. This Naruto was sat upon the untouched bed, a large scroll in one hand and a calligraphy brush in the other. A look of concentration was etched across of his face as he focused on the scroll in front of him.

"If you've come to try and kill me again, can you try a bit later? I'm a little busy at the moment." An angry murmur escaped Kuroka at being caught so easily. The Nekoshou made her way over to the bed before throwing herself on it, flopping limply against the mattress.

"Whatcha working on?"

"Weren't you just trying to kill me a second ago?" Kuroka released a huff before rolling over onto her back. Her pouty eyes met with Naruto's suspicion filled ones.

"That was just your clone, Nya! I knew it wasn't you." Naruto's deadpan look made it rather clear just how much he actually believed the girl, causing Kuroka to pout once more.

"Stop being so mean! I didn't mean it." Naruto looked to be about to respond to the weak excuse but was interrupted when an intense glowing reached his eyes. Kuroka's eyes fell upon the kanji symbol that was glowing a bright yellow along the back of Naruto's hand.

"Neko…" Kuroka managed to decipher the kanji just as Naruto disappeared from his bed, leaving the girl alone once again.

* * *

So far, Yubelluna had been having a good day. She had spent the morning getting some heavy petting from her master. After that, she had spent some time with the trains in preparation from the match. The peerage hadn't been expecting much of challenge going into the rating game so not much time had been spent training.

As soon as they had started, their predictions had come true. Rias' peerage only offered the full peerage a minimal challenge. Her trap at the beginning of the game had managed to wipe out one of the girl's strongest pieces. She had been a bit disappointed that she hadn't manage to also get Koneko but it didn't last for very long.

While searching for the Nekoshou she had discovered the perverted pawn piece known as Issei. The boy had been basically hypnotized by her figure and dress, making him a very easy target for her attack. She didn't hear an announcement announcing his retirement though which wasn't that big of a deal to her. Even if he managed to survive the attack, he didn't seem to be much of a threat in the first place.

Finally, after several minutes of searching, she had found the kitten. She was extremely pleased to see that the girl had been injured by her first attack, making her an even easier target. The girl running was only prolonging the inevitable.

"Die kitty!" She had screamed as she unleashed her strongest fire-based attack. Her smile was as wide as ever as she watched the ball of flames expand until a massive sphere that was more than 30 times the girl's size. No matter how fast the girl ran, she wouldn't be able to escape this one.

Yubelluna's grin threatened to split her face as the flames slammed into the girl, washing over the devil and setting the field aflame. A gleeful giggle exited her lips as she watched flames spread over the entirety of the field.

"Riser-sama will be so happy with me." Yubelluna said to herself as she watched the mesmerizing flames. The woman was so focused on the flames that she didn't even notice that Grayfia hadn't announced Koneko's retirement.

The girl's survival soon became clear to the purple-haired woman as the flames of her attack began to die down. To the devil's surprise, Koneko was completely unharmed from her attack. Not even her clothes had been singed from the attack. What was even more surprising was the person standing in front of the girl.

His vibrant blonde hair was the first thing that caught the woman's attention. Unlike her master's, this person's hair seemed to defy gravity and stand freely in the air. His narrowed blue eyes were trained onto her flying form. The man was dressed in a garb that was very plain to the girl. A simple yellow shirt that did well to highlight his muscular form. A pair of sweatpants hid his lower body from the world while the teen went shoeless.

"What the hell?" Yubelluna asked herself. What the lower-class devil didn't realize was that she wasn't the only one having these thoughts.

"What the hell is going on here?" A loud voice proclaimed as the massive screen zoomed in on the blonde newcomer. Settled in front of the screen were some of the most influential devils alive in the underworld. Lord and Lady Phenex, Lord Gremory and his wife, Venelana Gremory, Sirzechs Lucifer and the other three Four Great satans with a whole host of other devils.

Lord Phenex was the one who voiced what everyone else was thinking at the time. Just moments ago, the group of devils had been resigned to the fact that Rias was about to lose yet another member of her peerage. The rating game hadn't started off in the girl's favor and that hadn't changed at all. The girl losing yet another piece wasn't too surprising to anyone, not even her older brother.

What was surprising was the appearance of the blonde newcomer. No one should've been able to transport themselves into the rating game. The game was be held in a separate dimension, only accessible by the overseer of the match, which happened to be Grayfia.

"Who is this boy? How did he manage to get in there? He is one of Rias' pieces?" Question after question was fired off as the group of devils settled in a state of confusion. Sirzechs was one of the few who still had his entire focus on his screen, a small smile tugging at the man's lips.

"Do you know who this is, Sirzech-chan?" Serafall asked as she noticed the happy expression on the man's face, The redhead devil turned his head towards the young looking woman, his smile only seeming to grow larger at the action.

"All I can say is that this match is about to get a lot more interesting."

* * *

"Naru-kun.." Koneko whispered out as she stared at the back of her boyfriend's head. Only moments ago, the girl had been prepared to take a fireball to the chest. She hadn't expected the sudden arrival of the blonde though she certainly wasn't complaining.

"Just sit back and relax, Neko-chan. I'll handle it from here." Koneko could do nothing but nod at the boy's commanding tone. A comforting haze had settled over the girl like when she trained with the blonde except this feeling had an underlying tone of rage.

"What the hell is going on?" Yubelluna muttered to herself as she watched the exchange going on between the devil and the human. Whatever the boy had just said to the nekoshou had calmed the girl down considerably as she took several steps away from the blonde.

Yubelluna's attention was stolen away from the two when she felt a sharp pain rip through her wings. The woman glanced over at her right wing and was shocked to see that a hole was now present in the appendage.

Several more sharp pains tore through the girl's wings as more and more holes appeared in them. A loud cry of pain exited the woman's mouth as she quickly began to descend to the ground, her wings unable to keep her afloat.

The devil's landing was not a graceful one as she stumbled down to her feet. She quickly managed to regain her balance before beginning to inspect her damaged wings.

"What did that boy do to m-" Those were the last words the woman would be saying in the rating game as Naruto appeared by her side, a rasengan already formed in his hand. Without any warning or a single sign of remorse, the blonde slammed the spiralling sphere into the woman's side, forcing her to endure a brief second of excruciating pain before she was forcibly retired.

" **Kunai?** **Don't you think that was a bit extra?** "

"She threw a giant fireball at Koneko-chan. She signed her own fate the second she did that." Naruto stoically said as he watched the girl fade away from his eyes. Whether that signified her death in this dimension or not, he did not know. All he knew was that she had felt the pain that she had been planning to inflict on Koneko.

" **Biggest energy source excluding the Rias' girl is coming from the south. This place seems to be a replica of your kitten's school.** " Naruto nodded as a clone appeared wordlessly beside him. The clone quickly dashed over to Koneko as the original disappeared.

* * *

"Ah … R-riser's Queen has been retired." The chaotic room quickly fell silent at Grayfia hesitant proclamation. Everyone's eyes were glued onto the screen in front of them that was displaying the quick and vicious assault that led to Yubelluna's retirement.

"Sirzechs-sama, you never reported that Rias had another peerage member. Where did she acquire such a piece?" The most powerful devil in the underworld looked as casual as ever as he leaned back into his chair. His arms were crossed behind his head as he stared at the projected screen in front of him.

"I never knew that she acquired the boy as a piece. It must've been pretty recently if it managed to sneak past me." Sirzechs explained calmly as his eyes stayed locked on the screen. The satan had no idea that his sister was even aiming for Naruto to be in her peerage. The fact that his sister had managed to get such a powerful person in her peerage filled him with joy.

"Rias-tan is going to win now!~" Inside of his head, the devil was screaming and dancing in celebration. The man knew how strong the blonde was and had no doubts that the boy would be able to defeat the Phenex.

"Ah … Sirzechs-kun, we may have a bit of a problem." The red satan turned his head to look at one of his oldest friends, Ajuka Beelzebub. The blue satan was a very handsome looking man with light blue eyes and slicked back green hair. He was dressed in simple green robes and was clutching a tablet in his hand.

"What is it Aju-kun?" The satan cleared his throat before beginning to swipe away at the tablet.

"As you know, I created the evil piece system so to say the least, I've become very familiar with it. I also helped create these rating games. Today I came to support your sister and to make sure things went as smoothly as possible." The man started off before swiping right on his tablet. Everyone's attention was directed back onto the projected screen as Ajuka's tablet began to be displayed on it.

The display was a massive layout of the Kuoh Academy. Every single detail was mapped out in extreme detail, leaving absolutely no room for error. On the map were several glowing blips that varied in size. Each of the blips had a dark red tint to it with a small name beside it except for the largest one, which glowed a blinding blue.

"As you can see, this is a layout of the dimension that Rias and Riser are battling in. The dots you see on the individual pieces and their pieces. The red glow is due to their demonic energy. All this information is sent to me via their evil pieces." Ajuka explained to the room full of devils.

"Then why doesn't that circle have a name next to it? And why isn't it glowing red?" Lord Phenex's asked, curiosity clear in his voice. The smile on Sirzechs face slowly began to fall as realization came upon the man.

"That's the issue. I can't detect an evil piece or even a single ounce of devilic energy in this boy. I've run my scans over a dozen time since his appearance and they all are coming back saying that this boy is actually a human." The silence in the room was deafening as the Satan's statement hit them. The smile on Sirzechs' face was completely gone as he realized the implication of his friend's statement.

"Are you claiming that a HUMAN is in this rating game and managed to take down a devil?" The Phenex clan head's incredulous tone was shared by everyone as the man directed his question to the Satan. There was no way a human managed

"I'm not claiming it, I'm telling you that it's true. That boy is a human."

* * *

 _[Ah … R-riser's Queen has been retired]_

Riser's brow furrowed in confusion at the announcement. There should've been no one in Rias' peerage that could even hurt his queen enough to retire the girl. He knew that while the girl was classified as a lower-class devil, she had the potential to be mid-class just with her attacks alone.

"This is troublesome. I wanted the match to be over by now." The man's irritated tone was quickly noticed by his two rooks who were protecting them.

"I'm sure that Yubelluna just fell for a trap or something. Siris or Karmaline should be ending the match the soon." Isabela said in her usual gruff tone. Xuelan nodded her head in agreement, her confidence in her fellow pieces.

The two pieces were so focused on their master that they didn't even notice the kunai that landed in between the two. Because they didn't notice the kunai, they also missed the paper tag that was attached to it's handle.

The kunai presence was announced when the paper tag went off, releasing a massive explosion that caught the trio off guard. The two rooks were thrown to the side by the explosive force while Riser was covered in the smoke.

The pieces quickly recovered from the sneak attack and dashed back over to their master. To their shock and slight fear, the Phenex heir was no longer there.

What the two rooks didn't see was that Naruto, in the midst of the explosion and the dust cloud, dashed in, grabbed onto Riser and shunshined away. The two blondes appeared in a field along the outer limits of the school.

Riser immediately stumbled to the ground, clutching his stomach as he tried to hold in his stomach. The sudden quick and unwanted movement had caught the man off balance and almost made him throw up.

"Am I right to assume that you are the king of that purple-haired woman?" Riser shifted his focus from the ground to the blonde that was standing over top of him. The teen's face was settled into a blank mask as his arms were crossed over his chest, making for a very intimidating pose.

"Are you speaking of Yubelluna?If so, I have the displeasure of saying yes to your question. I see she failed to take out that pesky Rook. Pathetic." Riser said as he climbed to his feet, completely missing the hardening of Naruto's face at his words.

What the devil didn't miss was the fist that buried itself in his stomach. This time, the Phenex couldn't hold his lunch down as a mixture of blood, spit and throw up flew from out of his life as he hunched over his fellow blonde's fist.

The man's pain only grew worse when he felt a hand grab onto the back of his head. Mercilessly, his head was forced down into the grab, being smashed into the small puddle of bodily fluids he had just released.

"You hurt someone very close to me. In other words, you made one of the biggest mistakes of your life." Naruto said as he held the man's head down. With a slight grunt of effort, the shinobi lifted the dazed devil by his head and threw him, sending him tumbling across the field.

Riser's tumbling was put to a stop as the man's body exploded into flames. Two wings made of flames manifested on his back as the man quickly took to the skies. The devil's face was twisted in a disgusted sneer as he stared down at Naruto.

"You will die for touching me like that!" Riser yelled before beginning to unleash a volley of fireballs down at the blonde. Naruto immediately began to go through a chain of handsigns before calling out his technique.

" _ **Water Release: Water Dragon**_." The blonde's cheeks puffed up before he began to spew an inhumane amount of water from his mouth. The water quickly took on the shape of a dragon before taking off towards the rain of fireball.

The balls of flame did absolutely nothing to stop the dragon's ascent as they dispersed harmlessly against the water's construct body. The dragon continued to fly higher and higher into the sky, his true target becoming clear as it's altitude increased.

Riser, realizing that his fireballs were doing nothing to halt the dragon that was coming for him, quickly dived past the creature. The dragon attempted to catch the Phenex with a snap of its jaw but missed the flying devil.

Riser kept his dive towards the ground going as he directed himself at Naruto. The shinobi was completely still as he looked at the flying Phenex. The man's fist were drawn back and covered in flames as he prepared to release a devastating punch.

As soon as Riser came within reach of the younger blonde, the man struck his fist out at the shinobi. To the Phenex's shock, his flaming punch was caught in the crushing grip of his opponent. The devil quickly struck his other fist out but was only met with disappointment when it was also caught by the blonde.

The Phenex's attention was stolen away from the blonde when he heard a loud roar come from behind him. The devil turned his head, horror quickly filling him when he realized that the water dragon was still chasing after him. The clan heir tried to pull away from the blonde's grip and was even more horrified when he realized he couldn't break the hold.

"Release me!" Riser yelled as his arms exploded into flames. The fire didn't seem to affect his fellow blonde as Naruto continued to maintain his hold on Phenex. Riser turned his head, a face a mask of fear, and saw that the dragon was now directly behind him, it's jaw open as it prepared to devour the Phenex.

With a loud roar, the dragon sunk its watery teeth into the Phenex, forcing a loud scream out of the man. Naruto finally released his hold on the man as the dragon ripped the man from his grip. The dragon began to ascend into the air, sinking its teeth deeper into the Phenex as it flew higher and higher.

Finally, after reaching a height of over a hundred meters, the dragon stopped climbing. With its head pointed up towards the sky and its wings outstretched, the dragon swallowed the Phenex whole before violently exploded into a brilliant mist of water and chakra.

Naruto watched as the drenched and battered body of the Phenex began to fall to the earth. The devil made a hard and wet sound as his body slammed into the ground before laying motionless.

" **I thought you said you were against killing.** " Naruto ignored his partner's comment as he made his way over to Phenex. Once the shinobi had reached the man's body, he quickly flipped the man onto his back with the use of his feet.

Riser returned to the land of consciousness when a foot slammed into his head. A loud cry of pain exited the man as his body began to register the pain it was in. The man didn't have much time to wallow in his pain, however, as a hand grabbed onto his throat and lifted him into his air. His eyes quickly locked onto the eyes of the blonde who had just soundly defeated him.

"I don't know what politics or bullshit you devils go through but let me make something very clear to you. You and your minions stay away from Koneko. You hurt her or touch her or even order someone to do it again, then I will end you." The two remained in an eyelock as Riser struggled to answer due to the hand that was wrapped around his throat. After several moments of struggling, the man gave up on giving a verbal answer and simply nodded, his body unable to do anything else due to the pain it was in.

"Good. Im gl-

"Step away from the Phenex." Naruto was interrupted mid-sentence by a very loud and very familiar voice. The blonde turned his head and discovered a very shocking sight.

Behind him was what could be best described as a small legion of devils. An abundance of them looked to be on the verge of murdering him as their attacks were already charged in their heads. Several of them were floating in the air as their eyes stayed trained onto the shinobi. And leading this whole group of devils was one Sirzechs Lucifer.

" **Congratulations. You've managed to piss off yet another faction of supernatural creatures. Have fun!** " And with that, Kurama went silent, leaving Naruto alone to deal with the group of agitated words. Only six words came to the blonde's mind to help describe the situation he found himself in.

"Kami why do you hate me."

* * *

 _ **AN: This chapter is done! Finished! Completed! Over with! Concluded! Terminated! Another synonym for done! I hope that you all enjoyed this chapter. Naruto probably didn't enjoy it that much. He just can't seem to ever stay out of trouble, can he?**_

 _ **So to answer some questions for you guys. Koneko's armlet isn't just a regular armlet as I'm sure plenty of you have already guessed. Second, Sirzechs THOUGHT that Naruto was apart of Rias' peerage, hence his excitement. That idea was quickly taken away from him. Third,**_

 _ **Anyways, review or private message me with any questions, comments, concerns, suggestions, etc. Enjoy your day!**_

 ** _Also on a small side note, THIS STORY NOW HAS OVER 3000 FOLLOWERS AND FAVORITE. It feels like I was just announcing the fact that we reached 2k. You guys have no idea just how extremely happy this has made me. I'm absolutely elated! Thank you all for the support. I appreciate every single last ounce of it. Thank you all so much._**


	13. Chapter 13

He just couldn't catch a break. Nope, not one break at all. A break was just too much to ask for at this point in his life. Being born and having your parents killed immediately afterwards? No break there. Having a demon sealed inside of you? Still no break. Being discriminated your whole entire life by your own village because of said demon? Nope. Fighting your whole entire life, slaying an ancient rabbit goddess only to be transported to another dimension? Still couldn't catch a break there. These events seemed to happen so frequently in his life that Naruto just stopped being so affected by them.

But pissing off three factions of supernatural creatures in the span of a month was not something the blonde expected he would ever do. It wasn't something he would even dream of happening in a thousand years. Not when he was in the elemental nations or on planet Earth. But somehow, most likely due to the blonde's close but bitter relationship with lady luck, that exact situation was actually in the process of happening.

"Naruto…" Sirzechs tone was a warning one as he stared at the boy who had his hand wrapped around Riser Phenex's throat. The Phenex heir was still struggling to breathe, clawing and scratching at Naruto's hand, unable to compromise the boy's grip.

"Well this a bit awkward…" Naruto said while staring at the small squadron of devils in front of him. The variety between them all was almost unimaginable. Some took the form of some of the most beautiful/handsome men and women Naruto had ever seen. Others had grotesque body parts and growth that truly fit their title as devils. And all of them looked to be seconds away from blasting his ass to hell.

"Let go of my son, human, or I'll be sure that the rest of your pathetic existence will be spent getting roasted by my own personal flames." Lord Phenex yelled as he stepped towards the blonde. Naruto eyes quickly swept over the man, immediately noticing the similarities between him and Riser. Tiny embers were shooting from the man's skin, showcasing just how angry the man was.

"This is your son? Then excuse me when I say this but you've done an absolutely terrible job at parenting." Naruto's comment seemed to pick at the man's nerve as the flames around him began to grow. The man was calmed; however, when Sirzechs rested his hand on the Phenex's shoulder.

"Stop this Naruto. Put the man down and let's handle this peacefully." While he looked calm on the outside, inwardly Sirzechs was begging for the blonde to just listen. He could sense the mounting tension between the two groups and while he was a Satan, he wasn't too entirely sure that he would be able to stop a group with several middle and high-class devils in it.

Thankfully for the Satan, Naruto answered his silent pleading by releasing Riser's throat. The Phenex collapsed to the ground, gasping for air as the constriction around his throat finally disappeared. The man began to climb to his feet while glaring harshly at the blonde who had assaulted him. He looked to be about to attack Naruto again but was stopped by the stern voice of his father.

"Riser! Enough. You've humiliated yourself and your family enough for today. Suck up your wounded pride and come back over here." Lord Phenex's words caused a very harsh scowl to appear on his son's face. The younger Phenex held his glare on Naruto for several more seconds before beginning to limp over to his father and the rest of the devils.

"Now Naruto, I'm going to ask you to peacefully throw down any weapons you may have on you and come with us." Sirzechs said in an even and calm voice. Naruto remained still, only eyeing the red headed devil and the group behind him.

"What happens if I don't?" Naruto's question sent a ripple of tension shooting through the crowd of devils. Some of them continued to power up their attacks while others started to summon weapons into their hand. Sirzechs began to sweat nervously as he sensed a fight about to break out between the two groups.

"We're not going to hurt you Naruto-kun. We just want to find out some answers. I promise that no harm will fall on you in my custody." Inwardly the devil was pleading for the boy to just shut up and follow his command.

"I believe that you aren't going to hurt me. Unfortunately, I don't believe that the rest of your group will do the same. They don't look as friendly as you do." Naruto could sense the tidal wave of negative emotions that were pouring out from the group of devils. The blonde wasn't stupid. He knew that in the hands of the devil, he wouldn't experience much pleasure.

"Enough of this banter, Sirzechs. Its obvious that the boy isn't going to willingly come with us. Such a shame. I would've loved to pick him apart and see what made him tick." Ajuka said as he stepped forward. Sirzechs watched with a sense of dread as more and more devils followed the scientist's lead. The situation was quickly slipping out of the man's hand.

" **Seems like you're in a bit of a bind.** " Kurama's voice was welcoming for the blonde in this situation.

"I thought you were going to leave me to deal with this all by myself." Naruto said as he scanned the slowly advancing group of devil. The blonde's muscles were tensed as the situation continued to spiral out of control.

" **I couldn't just let you have all of the fun. We're partners after all.** " Kurama's comment made Naruto smile as the tailed beast began to feed his chakra into his host's body. The small change went unnoticed by the approaching devils as they continued to close the distance between them and the blonde.

"We're aiming to stun not kill. There's no reason to put myself deeper on these people's shit list." Naruto's comment forced a groan out of Kurama but the tailed beast seemed to comply as he said no more.

"The boy is about to attack. Restrain him!" Lord Phenex yelled as Naruto reached to his side. A cry of outrage left Sirzechs lips but the devil's cry could not be heard over the battle cries of the charging devils.

Naruto's eyes narrowed as a numerous amount of attacks were thrown his way. The variety between the attacks were great, some of them ranging from simple fiendish looking orbs to streaking bullets that were brilliant shades of different colors.

" **You may want to move out the way**." Naruto chuckled at his partner's comment before disappearing from the devil's sight, leaving behind a small crater in the ground. The ranged attacks of the devils slammed into the blonde's previous position, completely missing the speedy blonde.

"Where did the boy go?" The question collectively began to travel through the crowd of devils as the blonde remained hidden from their sight. The group of battle hardened devils unconsciously settled into a defensive position. Their past training and experience from fighting against the fallen angels and angels had taught them to be prepared for a sneak attack.

The attack came in the form of a single kunai with a paper tag attached to it. The weapon flew threw the air and landed near the center of the devil's defensive formation. Not a single one of them had any time to react before a large cloud of dark smoke began to spew from out of the paper tag. The smoke quickly spread throughout the entirety of the clearing, obscuring of all its occupant's sight.

* * *

"I'm surprised that you haven't stepped in and stopped this already." Sirzechs attention was taken away from growing smokeball by his friend's voice. The devil turned his head to glance at Ajuka who was standing carelessly at his side with his laptop clutched in his hands. The green-haired man's eyes were trained on the scene that was evolving before them.

"Don't act so surprised. 'I would've loved to pick him apart'. That's the dumbest thing I have ever heard you say before. I know you were just giving the boy a bit of a push. Just like you, I'm curious as to what this human can do. I figured I would take this opportunity to truly test his threat level." Sirzechs returned his gaze back on the clearing as the smoke ball seemed to reach the height of it's growth. Ajuka hummed thoughtfully at his friend's comment before glancing down at his tablet.

"You are correct about my curiosity. I am curious how this boy managed to "break" into this rating game. After all, the technology that made this Ratings Game possible was my own. It was meant to keep out any outside intruders. A human that bested my invention does not exactly sit well with me." The devil commented as he swiped at the device in his hand. Within seconds, an overhead view of the smoke filled clearing appeared on the man's screen.

"Enough of this chatter though. Let's see what our blonde friend has in store for us." And with that, the duo began to fully focus on the scene in front of them.

* * *

"Someone clear this smoke." A random devil yelled through the thick blackness of the smoke. The man's request went unanswered for several seconds before a sudden strong wind swept through the clearing. The wind seemed to latch onto smoke and lifted it away from the group of devil.

"What the …" The devil's voice trailed off as he noticed the new additions to the field. Bordering the outline of the clearing was a large sealing array. Of course to the devils, the array was foreign and thus was immediately labeled dangerous to them.

Before the devils could escape the clearing, the sealing array lit up in a brilliant shade of blue. Everything within the clearing seemed to freeze for a moment before the ground began to crack. One by one, the devils were seemingly pushed down onto the ground, loud cries of confusion and pain ranging through the air as more and more fell. Soon each devil within the seal was laid flatagainst the ground. Confusion was still fresh on their face as they struggled against some invisible force in order to climb back on their feet.

"Gravity seals. You can't beat them." Naruto made his presence known as he stepped from out his hiding spot in the forest. The boy was aimlessly tossing a rock up into the air while staring down at the group of devils that were caught in his seal.

When the blonde's smoke tag had activated, he had went about creating several clones that were to help him with his seal. Within the confusion and darkness of the smoke, he quickly marked up the clearing with the symbols necessary for the gravity seal. With his clones help, the shinobi had managed to complete the task before the smoke had cleared.

"I'm guessing none of you have any experience working under a more intensive gravitational pull." The blonde said before lobbing the rock towards the sealing array. Once the rock crossed into the seal's boundary, it was sent careening to the ground at irregular speed.

"Release us immediately!" One of the devils managed to say under the strain of gravity. Naruto glanced down at the struggling man before a large grin popped on the blonde's face.

"And why should I do th-" The blonde had to interrupt himself when a large fireball filled his vision. Without batting an eye, the boy performed a sealless shunshin, causing him to disappear within a small puff of smoke.

He appeared amongst the trees that lined the small forest clearing. His eyes began to scan through the clearing, his curiosity raised by the fact that someone had managed to overcome the effects of his gravity seal so quickly.

To the blonde's shock, the person who had overcame his gravity seal wasn't some hulking beast of a devil or an oversized monster. No, it was actually the exact opposite.

The girl was obviously still struggling to stand, something that was evident by the shaking of her legs and the slight layer of sweat that was already covering her skin. The pink dress that covered her small frame looked to be about to rip off her body due to the effects of the gravity seal. The girl's hair was fashioned into two, large drill-shaped curls. Her face was contorted into a mask of concentration as she focused on staying on her feet.

"Well that was unexpected." Naruto thought to himself as he watched the girl continue to shake. The raw determination she was exhibiting just by standing up was pretty impressive. The fact that she had mustered up the concentration to fire off a spell while dealing with the gravity seal was even more impressive.

"Release us from this sorcery immediately or so help me, in the name of the Phenex clan, I will smite you!" The girl spat out with a surprising amount of venom in her voice. A small fireball began to form in the girl's voice as she held her glare on Naruto.

" **You're really slacking if a little girl was able to put up with the seal. What would the old pervert say about that**?" Kurama's jestful comment made Naruto scoff.

"Jiraiya wouldn't of said anything. He would be too busy ogling every female in sight. Besides, maybe this girl just happens to have more willpower than any of these devils." Naruto responded to his partner just as the girl's determination seemed to leave her. The attack in her hand sputtered into nothingness just as the girl collapsed down onto her knees.

" **Apparently not enough to do anything useful though.** " Naruto hummed at his partner's comment. The humming was quickly put to a stop when the ground beneath the blonde began to shake erratically. The trees shook along with him, shedding a large amount of their leaves in the process, as the shaking grew stronger.

The source of the quakes became apparent to the blonde when a large shard of ice ruptured the ground below him. The single ice spike quickly turned into multiple as the area around the shinobi began to freeze over.

Luckily for the blonde, he managed to jump away just as the ice broke through the ground, narrowly avoiding getting skewered by the spikes. The blonde landed amongst the tree branches as the ice quickly spread over most of the clearing.

The ice quickly spread over to the "trapped" devils and the seal that surrounded them. The ice seemed to seep into the seal itself, causing it's blue light to grow a dark and chilling navy blue. Within a couple of seconds, the seal's glow completely died down, freeing it's occupants from the ground.

Sirzechs and Ajuka's glanced in between them and were surprised to see their fellow Satan standing there with her fist outstretched. The Satan girl released a small giggle before straightening upright.

"You guys look surprised to see me." The beautiful girl stated. Her vibrant, violet eyes seemed to sparkle with mischievous as she clutched onto a small wand. Her long black hair contrasted nicely with tight and rather revealing magical girl clothing.

"We are. Last time we saw you was before the rating game had actually started. I saw you grab your sister and dash off. I just sort of assumed you had left." Ajuka explained as the devils in the field began to climb to their feet. The Pink Satan released a small giggle at the man's word.

"I just needed to comfort Sona-chan. She was a little upset at having to watch her friend go through something like this." The girl explained as she turned her attention back onto the clearing. The devils, their pride hurt from being restrained so easily, were in a borderline frenzy as they searched for the blonde.

"Plus with my job as head of foreign affairs, a human managing to sneak his way into one of your rating games is pretty interesting to me. Especially since he's so cute. I wouldn't miss this for the world." The trio went back to silent observation as their kinsmen found their target.

" **Just turn around and blast them all. I don't know why you're running**. **Just hurry up and end this**." Naruto released an angry huff at his partner's comments as he hopped from tree to tree. Behind him, a multitude of devils could be seen flying through the air, hot on the blonde's heels.

"Try to show a bit more patience." The shinobi stated just as he started to feel a rising heat on his back. The teen turned around and was immediately greeted to the sight of a massive fireball. The blonde's eyes widened just as the fireball impacted against him, consuming his body entirely.

"Ha!" Ravel exclaimed as she watched the boy who defeated her brother be consumed in her flames. A victorious grin erected itself upon the girl's face as she watched the boy's burning body fall to the forest floor. The grin was quickly put to rest when she noticed that the boy that she had just "killed" was actually a log.

"Brace yourselves!" Ravel heard briefly before an immensely strong gust of wind slammed into the girl. All of her forward velocity was put to a rest as she was sent tumbling backwards through the air by the gust of wind.

Unlike her comrades, Ravel's affinity towards aerokinesis allowed her to recover slightly quicker than the other devils. Due to her early recovery, she was able to catch a brief glimpse of a yellow flash before several devils were sent tumbling from the sky, their body covered various wounds.

"Wha…" Was all Ravel could say as the yellow blur appeared once again in her vision. The flash dashed from devil to devil, leaving each devil plummeting from the sky with their body covered in a multitude of cuts and gashes. Before long, the blonde Phenex girl was the only one left standing.

"Sorry about this." Was the last thing Ravel heard before she lost consciousness. Behind her, Naruto watched the girl fall to the ground, she being the last of the devils that he had dealt with.

" **You're no fun. You didn't even use any of my chakra. Just your father's stupid technique**."

"Shut up and stop whining. I told you that there was no point in doing anything lethal." Naruto said in response to the tailed beast's childish comment as he descended to the ground. The teen's feet quickly met the ground as several people made their presence known to the blonde.

* * *

Rias honestly couldn't believe how her day had gone up to this point. Her morning had been spent with her being filled with a mixture of worry and anxiety about her rating game. Her uncertainty of her peerage's ability when compared to Riser's peerage and how much the match would affect her life only worsened the trepidation.

Her worst nightmares started to come true as soon as the rating game began. Her well-planned strategy immediately began to crumble beneath the sheer number and power of Riser's pieces. All of the training that her group had went through seemed to be for naught as each of her piece's began to be retired.

When Akeno had fallen, Rias had given up all hope. She had been fully prepared to forfeit the match then and there in order to spare the remainder of her peerage any harm. Except that when the girl had called out to Grayfia in order to resign from the match, she received no response. The girl had spent a full minute calling out to her sister-in-law and was only greeted with silence, a strange occurrence since Grayfia's position as overseer of the match gave her unlimited access to all of the dueling grounds.

It was only when the announcement that Riser's queen had been retired was played that Rias dared to do something as stupid as to leave her position in the clubroom in order to investigate what was happening. With her lacking in numbers and Riser's impatience, the Gremory girl had expected the man to have ended the match by now.

To the redhead's surprise, halfway through her investigation, she encountered one of pieces, her rook to be exact. The nekoshou was leaned up against a tree, a happy glaze settled over the girl's face. The devil's uniform was ripped in multiple areas, revealing a large portion of her skin. The girl didn't seem to care one bit though as she continued to stare off into space.

"Koneko…" Rias muttered out softly as she approached the girl. The rook didn't respond at all as her king continued to approach her. The heiress was within arm's reach of the girl as she reached out and lightly touched the nekoshou on her shoulder.

"Naru-kun.." Koneko muttered out, drawing a raised eyebrow from her queen. The redhead shaked the younger girl's shoulder only to be met with the same response. An annoyed look crossed the king's face before she drew her hand back and smacked her rook across the cheek. The stunned girl was brought out of her shock by the impact of the hit.

"Ah … Very unnecessary Rias-Sama." The young girl muttered as she rubbed her red cheek. Rias released a small huff as her rook climbed onto her feet, the haze now completely gone from her eyes.

"Well you weren't responding and I got worried. All you kept muttering was 'Naru-kun'. I don't think this is the time and place to be worrying about him". Rias had to stop herself from rolling her eyes as Koneko's eyes seemed to light up at the mention of her boyfriend's name. The younger girl's back straightened as she began to inspect the area around her.

"Naruto-kun … He was here earlier. He … took care of Riser's queen." A look of shock crossed Rias' face at Koneko's admission. That had been completely unexpected. The fact that boy had somehow managed to find his way into her rating game was shocking but he also retired her opponent's queen? That was unheard of.

"Are you sure you weren't just hallucinating? Did you hit your head? What happened?" Rias questioned the girl. Koneko's face scrunched up into a mask of concentration as she tried to remember the events from earlier. Luckily for the duo, they wouldn't have to rely on the nekoshou's memory.

"If you're looking for boss, he's probably in the middle of kicking some ass." Both girls turned their heads to look at the clone that had just spoken. The blonde carbon copy was perched up in the tree that Koneko was previously leaning against. The clone was absentmindedly tossing a kunai up into the air while looking up into the sky.

"Boss?" Rias questioned at the blonde. The clone released a light chuckle before snatching the kunai out of the air and jumping out of the tree, landing in front of the duo in a crouch before slowly rising to his full height.

"Unfortunately I'm just a clone. If you want the re-" The clone was interrupted when a loud roar shook the forest around the trio. All of three of them turned their head towards the sound and witnessed a blue dragon rising high into the sky. The dragon continued to climb high into the sky until it was over several hundred meters high. Once the dragon seemed to reach its apex, it froze in place before exploding seconds later into a brilliant mist of water and chakra.

"-al me, you should probably head towards that dragon. Chances are that he was probably the cause of that." The clone finished once the jutsu had finished. Rias and Koneko were slack jawed at the beautiful display of water manipulation that they had just witnessed. Koneko, while aware that her boyfriend had somehow managed to survive an encounter with the infinite dragon god, was shocked that Naruto had made such a thing. Rias, on the other hand, already had a hundred different scenarios playing out in her head about what she had just saw. She had noticed that figure that had been trapped within the teeth of the dragon and if her eyes weren't fooling her, it was Riser.

"Come on Koneko." Rias stated as she unveiled her devil wings and took off to the skies. Koneko looked slightly surprised at the action since her king rarely made use of her ability to fly. The rook didn't question the girl though as she summoned her own wings and followed after the heiress.

About a quarter of the way through the duo's journey, they beared witnessed to a pretty interesting site. The person that they were pursuing was in their sight, only a few hundred meters away. His golden blonde hair waved in the wind as he hopped from tree branch to tree branch. And directly behind him was a giant mob of flying devils that looked to be in the middle of trying to kill the boy.

"What in Satan's name is going on?" Rias asked herself as she watched the blonde nimbly dodge attack after attack. The boy didn't even have to look back as he ducked and weaved away from the attacks that were being thrown at him. The young devil was impressed that someone managed to have such agility along with that great amount of combat awareness.

That opinion was quickly wiped from the girl's mind when she watched the boy's body get consumed by a large fireball. A sigh escaped the girl's lips at the lost of a potential powerful ally as she watched the burning body fall to the ground. That disappointment quickly evolved into worry as she turned towards her rook, fearing for the girl's emotions after watching her boyfriend die so suddenly.

To Rias' surprise, Koneko didn't seem to be the least bit worried. Only a small spark of concern could be seen in the girl's eyes as she continued to watch the ongoing scene, her face emotionless as ever.

"Koneko … Are you okay?" Rias asked her younger peer. The nekoshou looked up at her king for a brief moment before turning her head back towards the crowd of devils.

"I'm fine. Don't worry. Naru-kun is okay." The girl simply stated before pointing in front of her. Rias' eyes followed the girl's hand and was met with yet another shocking sight.

The crowd of devils seemed to be frozen in shock as a yellow flash appeared in and out of their ranks. Every time the flash would appear, a dozen devils would suddenly fall to the ground with numerous injuries visible on their bodies.

This process continued on for a handful of seconds until only one devil was left standing … well flying. From what Rias could remember, this devil was named Ravel Phenex and she was the younger sister of Riser. From the brief interactions that she had had with the girl, Rias had figured her to be the more quiet and well-mannered types.

This didn't matter much as Naruto appeared behind the girl in a brief flash of gold. With a single chop to the neck, the girl's scarlet flame wings dispersed and she fell to the ground below.

"I … did not know he could do that." Koneko mumbled out, clearly shocked at the boy's display of power. Rias said nothing as she watched the blonde fall from the sky and land safely on his feet on the ground. Without any warning, the girl took off towards the blonde, leaving her rook to play catchup once again.

* * *

Blue eyes stayed locked with green as Naruto stared down Sirzechs. Standing by the devil's side was his two fellow Satans, each of them silently observing the blonde while their leader spoke with him.

"Lucifer eh? Very creative last name for a devil hiding as a human." Naruto stated bluntly with his hand in his pockets. Sirzechs released an embarrassed chuckle at the statement, unable to really refute the blonde's point.

"Yeah, I was never one for creativity. I can't say the same about you though. Those symbols you used to restrict my devils were out of this world. I couldn't comprehend a single bit of it." Sirzechs said. Serafall and Ajuka nodded their heads along to their comrade's statement.

"Flattery isn't going to get you out of this, Mr. Lucifer. I want to know why you, someone who claims to know and be close to Koneko, was simply watching as she was being beaten and attacked." Naruto's tone was sharp as he addressed the "elephant" in the room.

"Ah … Well… You see.." Sirzechs stumbled over his words as he tried to come up with a response to appease an obviously agitated boyfriend. Unfortunately for the Satan, he wouldn't get a chance to explain himself.

"I can offer an answer to that one." Rias stated as she finally approached the group. The girl was immediately put under the watch of four set of eyes as she walked into the clearing with a stoic Koneko by her side. The young girl's stoicism began to melt away once she set eyes on her boyfriend.

"You see, my brother, who is the RULER of the underworld, decided it would be a wonderful idea to sign away his little sister in a marriage contract a month after she was born. The problem is that the person he signed her away to was an obnoxious, self-centered, perverted asshole who was only planning to use the sister as a trophy and a toy to satisfy his sexual needs. Luckily for the sister- please indicate the heavy sarcasm here- the brother, being the RULER of the underworld, managed to find an exit route for his sister. All she had to do was use her friends to battle the asshole's group of super-powered females whose only goal was to cause as much physical damage to the sister's group, which happens to include a certain neko-girl. Now I'm sure you can put together the dots of who is who." Rias finished off. Now Sirzechs was facing the scrutiny of five pair of eyes which included an even more agitated boyfriend now.

"Well … when you put it like that… I sort of sound like an assho-" Sirzechs didn't get a chance to finish his statement as Naruto appeared in front of him and landed a sucker punch of the man's face, sending him tumbling backwards with a freshly broken nose.

" **You just punched this world's equivalent to Yami. Congratulations."** Kurama said sarcastically as the redhead found his balance. Naruto paid the comments no mind as he watched the Satan was clutching onto his nose while looking at Naruto.

"I'm not going to lie … I probably deserved that. BUT you have to understand, I didn't have a choice. The pure blooded bloodline was dy-" Sirzechs was interrupted once again when Naruto appeared in front of him. The blonde planted his right foot firmly in the ground before spinning 360 degrees off of that foot and landing a firm strike to the devil's cheek. The man was sent flying from his feet from a combination of the teen's natural strength and the momentum of the punch.

* * *

"Do you think we should help him?" Serafall asked as she watched her friend/leader fly several meters through the air only to land harshly against the ground.

"Maybe If I could track the boy's movement. Unfortunately he's moving too fast for me to follow so nope. Instead, I'll just record it for research." Ajuka said as he manipulated the cameras around the campus to focus on the small clearing.

"By research, you mean blackmail, right?"

"You know me too well."

* * *

Back with Sirzechs, the man was staring down Naruto with his nose bloodied from the boy's assault. The blonde stood in the devil's previous position, his usual cheerful visage now an icy and harsh one.

"Are you finished punching me in the face?" Sirzechs said loud enough for his counterpart to hear.

"Are you finished giving me bullshit excuses for your actions?" Naruto responded. A shadow of guilt crossed the man's face due to the blonde's comment.

"Look, back then, I didn't realize just what my actions meant back then. Rias was newly born, the issue of pure-bloods was a scary concept to the underworld and I was just trying to do my job as a leader. I didn't know it would cause her and her friends all of this pain."

"You have no reason to apologize to me. You need to apologize to her." Naruto said while pointing towards Rias. Sirzechs turned towards his younger sister and saw the girl looking away from him, causing the man to the sigh.

"Rias … I'm sorry." Sirzechs' voice was filled with sincerity as he addressed the younger girl. The heiress turned her gaze onto her brother, her eyes filled with a mixture of anger and sadness.

"I'm sorry doesn't cut it. You don't realize how much this has affected me. I've spent the last couple YEARS of my life trying to fight this. I don't even know if its resolved yet or not. How can you expect me to just suddenly forgive you with a simple, 'I'm sorry'?" Rias all but screamed with fresh tears in her eyes. At this point, the clearing was completely silent as the brother and sister shared their moments. Sirzechs' eyes traced Rias face and he saw the pain of a young girl that had her life from her. Her tears contained all of the pain and strife that she had been through trying to fight this engagement. The bags under her eyes, the redness of her eyes, the sagging of her shoulders. These weren't the signs of a girl who thought her brother was just being unfair. No. These were the signs of a young, emotionally drained girl who had been fighting against something that was far out of her control.

"I'm so sorry Rias. I wish I could go back and change it all. I really wish I could." The Satan muttered out as he dropped his head. The duo descended into silence once again as the occupants of the clearing stood within the tense atmosphere.

"If I may interrupt." Sirzechs raised his head as Ajuka spoke up. "Technically this is still a Ratings Game. And according to the rules, a victor can be declared once a king has forfeited or is no longer able to battle. And looking at Phenex-san, I would say that he is no longer able to battle." Rias' eyes widened at what the Satan was implying.

"Ajuka … I don't think think the Phenex cl-" Sirzechs was quickly silenced by the collective glare of all five other people in the clearing. The man immediately backed down and zipped his lips, clearly aware that it was now best for him to be quiet.

"I'm assume that if Lord and Lady Phenex were present and conscious, they would have no objections. But since they are not, we'll just assume that we are right in our assumptions." Ajuka could barely keep the smile off of his face as he swiped away at his tablet. Within a few seconds, a bright flash appeared in the sky as Riser's body disappeared from the dimension.

[ _Riser has been retired. This Ratings Game is over. Rias Gremory is the victor]_

Rias looked absolutely shocked at the announcement. Her eyes travelled from Sirzechs to Ajuka to Koneko and finally to Naruto. The tears that had sprung up in her eyes earlier were back once again as she dashed towards the blonde. Before the boy could even react, the redhead's arms were wrapped around his stomach and her head buried in his chest as he cried into it.

" **Well this is unexpected**." Kurama said from the comfort of his seal as he watched his container awkwardly comfort the crying girl. The blonde looked stuck between giving the girl a hug or simply just patting her head as his girlfriend glared at him from the side.

"Kurama, please help." Naruto whispered out as he felt the girl's tears begin to bleed through his shirt. The blonde was met with the amused chuckles of his tenant, causing the boy to let out a whimper.

"Naru-kun." Naruto looked down and saw Koneko standing by his side. The girl's head was down and her claws were out.

"Ko-chan wait, it isn't eve-" The teen didn't get a chance to explain himself as Koneko unleashed her righteous jealous girlfriend fury on him. The blonde was forced to take off running in order to avoid the wild assault of the nekoshou, leaving an emotional but ecstatic Rias alone.

"NOT THE FACE, I ALREADY HAVE WHISKERS"

Yep. Definitely could never catch a break.

* * *

AN: Eh its a chapter! Surprising right? Yup. I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Not really much to say. I'll attempt to post another chapter before Christmas or the end of the year. Hope you all have a good day. Review or PM me with any questions, concerns, comments and all that good stuff. Peace.


	14. Chapter 14

"For the last time Rias, I don't want to join your peerage." Ssid girl let out a loud groan as she dramatically slumped down in her seat at Naruto's counter to her offer. Sat in front of her was an unobservant Koneko who was silently munching away on a plate full of sugar cookies.

"But you could be closer to Ko-" The girl was stopped in the middle of her sentence when a half eaten cookie slammed into her forehead. The redhead turned her eyes to her rook and saw the nekoshou giving her a small glare.

"Don't do that." Koneko stated just as a small, balled-up napkin smacked lightly against her face. Her eyes fell upon her boyfriend who was busy fulfilling orders for the customers in the shop.

"Don't waste food by throwing it at people." Naruto said without looking up from his work. Koneko offered the boy a soft apology before turning back to Rias just in time to catch the girl blowing her a raspberry.

The duo of king and rook had made it a habit to visit Naruto's shop almost everyday after school. Koneko's reason were, of course, to visit and spend some quality time with her boyfriend. Rias,on the other hand, main intention was to try and recruit the boy to her peerage. Ever since watching his perfomance in the Ratings game, the girl had been unrelenting in her attempt to get the boy to her side.

Speaking of Naruto's actions, the blonde's assault on several mid to high-tier devils and his interruption of a Ratings game had left the blonde in some pretty deep shit when it came to the devils. It was best to say that he was on the "wanted" list of several devil clans. At the top of that list was the Phenex clan for sure. When Lord Phenex had awakened to the news that the engagement had been called off, he was not exactly the most receptive to the news. The man felt like he had been cheated and demanded that the decision be reversed due to Naruto's interference in the match. Unfortunately for him, Sirzechs was hearing none of it. To the Satan, his decision had been made and it was not changing. And with the backing of two other Satan's, there was really nothing the Phenex could do.

So instead, the clan had effectively put out a hit for Naruto. Because the boy had made it rather clear that he was allied to no faction, the clan had put out an award of the boy's death. Both Rias and Koneko had been furious when they heard about the bounty but were eventually were calmed.

Sirzechs had attempted to bring Naruto to the underworld in order to work out some agreement or alliance with the blonde. While the Satan knew he didn't have a full gauge on the boy's ability, he still was able to sense the raw power that the shinobi contained. Being the first to ally with someone with such power would only be a boon to the devil's power. Unfortunately for the devil, Naruto was having none of it. The blonde made it clear that he wanted no involvement with the devils. The feeling seemed to be mutual as most of the devils that participated in the "fight" against the boy held a strong grudge towards him and wanted nothing less than to be working alongside him.

"C'monnnnnnn. You'll get awesome devil powers, no one in the underworld will be able to do anything to you and eventually you could get your own peerage." Rias' was met with another deadpan look from the blonde. The girl released a sigh before deciding to stop with her recruiting attempts for today. Maybe tomorrow would be a better day.

" **That idiot from before is approaching the shop by the way.** " Naruto paused momentarily in his action at his partner's comment before continuing to knead the lump of dough in his hand.

"You're going to have to be a bit more specific than that. I know a lot of idio- Never mind, I see what you mean." Naruto interrupted himself in the middle of the sentence as the man in question walked into the shop.

The man's unkempt golden bangs were even more wild than usual considering the fact that they were covered in soot and ash. His burgundy trench coat had several holes burned into it. The man's exposed chest was littered with cuts and bruises that were leaking with various amounts of blood.

Azazel didn't seem to pay his condition no mind as he entered the shop. Even as he bled onto the surface of the shop, the man didn't seem to be the least bit bothered by it. Everyone else around him didn't share the same opinion. Most were watching in disgust as the fallen angel bled so close to their food.

Naruto sighed and tried to fight off as headache as Azazel finally noticed him. The man made an immediate beeline towards the counter, leaking blood the whole entire way. In the background, Naruto could see some of the customers bagging up their food and leaving the shop in mild disgust.

"I don't even know how I'm still open." Naruto muttered to himself as Azazel finally reached the counter. Both Rias and Koneko stared openly at the man, their eyes widened at being so close to the leader of the fallen angels. The man paid their shocked stares no mind as he began to address the blonde.

"Fancy seeing you here Naru-kun. The last time we met was in a middle of a forest. If we keep meeting like this, people could talk." Azazel started off with. Rias and Koneko's jaws dropped even more at the utterly casual way the fallen angel was addressing the shop owner.

"First of all, don't say things like that. Its just plain weird. Second, why are bleeding? Third and most importantly, why are you bleeding in MY shop?" Naruto punctuated with each statement by punching the dough in his hands. Once again, Azazel seemed completely oblivious to the boy's anger as he leaned against the counter, leaking blood on the clean surface.

"Oh, y'know, I was just in the neighborhood and decided to pay my dear ol' buddy a visit." The casualness dripping from the man's voice served to further the shock the two girls were feeling and send Naruto even further into his frustration.

"You didn't answer a single one of my questions." Naruto's voice was frothing with frustration as he addressed the man. Azazel released a light chuckle before setting himself down on the stool next to Rias.

"I was just testing out some new experiments and this was the result. I think its coming along pretty well." Azazel said as he reached for one of Koneko's cookies. This seemed to snap the girl out of her shocked state as she slapped away the man's hand, causing him to start pouting at the girl.

"Naruto … do you have any idea who this is?" Rias said as she steadily inched away from the man beside her. Naruto turned his head towards the apprehensive girl but not before slapping away Azazel's hand.

"Yes I do. He's an old, perverted fallen angel who is obsessed with stalking me and breasts. Or better known as Ero-datenshi." Naruto said matter-of-factly. Azazel was sent back into his pouting at the boy's comment.

"They mock what they do not understand. You guys are not better than that uptight bearded asshole in the sky." Azazel muttered out while staring dejectedly out the window. Naruto sighed at the man's childish behavior before going back to the making of his sweets, completely ignorant of the looks he was receiving from the two devils.

"First Ophis and now the fallen angels … Just how many supernatural beings have you encountered?" Rias mumbled out.

"I broke out of heaven after being interrogated by Michael." The casualness in the boy's voice did little to stop the shock the girls felt at the comment.

"Michael? Like the archangel Michael? The Michael that fought at God's side and is partly responsible for the death of Satan? That Michael?" Rias rattled off in an uncontrolled manner. The situation was just too unbelievable for the girl to grasp.

Naruto offered the girl a simple nod, sending her deeper into her disbelief.

"How can you be so casual about this?" Koneko asked while staring the boy. Naruto looked up from the girl, a small smile slowly crossing his face as it came within her view.

"Its pretty simple Ko-chan. These are just average days from a simple shop owner like myself."

* * *

"We have discovered the boy's location, Michael-Sama." Michael looked up from his papers at the sudden voice. Standing in front of him was a low-level scouting with only a single set of wings. The man had his head bowed as he awaited his leader's reaction.

"Where was he hiding?" Michael leaned back into his comfortable, leather chair as the man raised his head to report.

"He was discovered in the town of Kuoh which, if our reports are up to date, is under the control of the Gremory devil clan. Like the rumors have stated, the boy seems to have ownership of some type of sweet shop. I attempted to trail him after he left the shop but he is very elusive. I was unable to keep up with him." The man bowed his head once again as he reported his partial failure to his leader. Michael let out a disappointed sigh as he leaned back further in his chair.

"Raise your head. There's no need to be ashamed. I know personally of this boy's ability and I do not blame you for failing in your mission." Michael said. The angel in front of him raised his head and shot the man an appreciative look.

"What will be our next course of action,, Michael-Sama?" The nameless angel asked. Michael stood from his chair, his wings flaring out behind him as he did so. The twelve golden wings only served to add more to the image of power the man held.

"You will be doing nothing. Report in your findings with Raphael and take the rest of the day off. You have earned it." Michael said while waving the man away. The angel offered his leader a deep bow before releasing his wings and flying out of the office.

"Should I be bothered that you keep eavesdropping on all of my conversations?" Michael asked seemingly to no one. Seconds later, the ever beautiful Gabriel revealed herself from her hidden position in her brother's office.

"I was just checking up on my little brother. You seem to be stressed as of lately and I know what stress can do to the body." Gabriel approached her fellow archangel. Michael released a sigh as his sister settled next to him. He felt the woman lay her hand on his shoulder as she tried to comfort him.

'You need to not stress yourself so much. It'll lead you to an early grave." Gabriel's rather morbid joke earned her a dry look from her brother, drawing out an embarrassed chuckle from the angel.

"Your jokes are in terrible taste as always. I don't even know how you haven't fallen yet for your terrible sense of humor." Both of the siblings exchanged a small round of laughter at Michael's words. To anyone else, the scene would be almost too surreal. Watching two of the strongest beings in Heaven giggle and laugh as if they were primary school kids was something most people didn't get to see in their lifetimes.

"Ah, I enjoy moments like these. Helps distract me from all the chaos that is ensuing around the world." Michael said as his laughter started to die down. Gabriel's laughter was soon put to a stop as her brother once again sunk back into his depressed state.

"Do not think about it Michael. Take your mind off of things." Gabriel's calming voice would usually be able to calm the angel but today it didn't seem to be doing the trick.

"Thats a lot simpler said than done. With the continuous decrease in our numbers, constant pressure from the two other factions and now this boy on the loose, my plate has been constantly full. I can't just take my mind off of it, even for a day. The God system makes sure of that." Michael's voice raised in intensity as he spoke about his daily woes. Gabriel's previous smile was once again gone as the signs of stress began to show on her brother. The bags under his eyes, the sagging of his shoulder and the slight redness of his eyes. The angel was suffering.

Michael released a small sigh as he attempted to reel in his emotions. While he hadn't exactly yelled at Gabriel, he could feel his emotional mask slipping during his miniature rant. As a leader, that was unacceptable. While he didn't have the worry about falling so easily, he still needed to reign in control of his emotions which was turning out to be a pretty difficult task of its own.

The archangel flinched as he felt a pair of arms wrap around his upper body. Behind him stood Gabriel who had her head laid against her brother's back as a soft lullaby left her lips.

" _May your dreams bring you peace in darkness,_

 _May your always rise over the rain,_

 _May the light from above always lead you to love,_

 _May you stay in the arms of the angels,_

 _May you always be brave in the shadows till the sun shines upon you again_

 _Hear this prayer in my heart and will ne'er be apart,_

 _May you stay in the arms of the angels,_

 _May you hear every song in the forest and if ever you lose your own way;_

 _Hear my voice like a breeze,_

 _Whisper soft through the trees,_

 _May you stay in the arms of the angels,_

 _May you grow up to stand as a man,_

 _love with the pride of your family and name_

 _When you lay down your head for to rest in your bed_

 _May you stay in the arms of the angels_." With each line of the song, Michael's form grew less and less tense. The soothing words of his sister filled the angel and gently swept away the worries he was feeling. By the end of the song, the blonde had succumbed to the warmth of his sister's embrace.

"Father used to sing that to us whenever we had problems going to sleep. He was always so gentle with us." Michael muttered out as he sank deeper and deeper into Gabriel's hug. The woman behind him released a small hum as she rubbed her cheek against her brother's back.

"Would you have preferred him not to be?" Gabriel's voice was muffled as she spoke into Michael's back but the angel still heard her loud and clear.

"As much as I would like to say yes, the real answer is no. His gentleness taught me how to appreciate moments like this." The two supernatural creatures descended into silence as the outside noise bled into the office. The two paid it no mind as they continued their embrace, content to enjoy the rare emotional moment with each other.

* * *

Naruto glanced in between the two people that were currently occupying his shop. The street light filtered in through the large windows at the front of the shop. A soft, pale and natural moonlight mixed with the artificial light of the street lights, giving the interior of the shop a soft glow.

Why did things have to be so complicated? Why did he seem to attract the weirdest and quirkiest of individuals? How had he even managed to fool himself into thinking that he could just settle down and run a candy shop? Looking back at the idea right now was making Naruto realize just how stupid he was being.

The blonde shook his head violently in order to derail that train of thought and shoved it away for a later time. There was no use in focusing on it now. Especially since the two people in front of him were probably thinking he was crazy the longer he kept quiet.

"So … do you mind explaining to me the situation again?" Naruto started off with in a slow, drawl voice. The teen's patience had already been tested by a certain leader of the grigori and the current situation was not helping at all, Especially since the man was one of the duo standing in front of him.

"You see, I recently took Vali-chan under my wing and he has progressed beautiful when it comes to combat. But I've started to worry for him recently. He's so combative and reclusive at times. Sometimes he locks himself in his room for hours and refuses to come out! I want him to get out more often and interact with more people. And I figured you could use some extra help so I was thinking you could offer him a job!" Azazel relented with mock worry in his voice. From an outsider's perspective, the fallen angel's speech could almost be seen as sincere. His voice, his mannerisms and his expression all pointed towards the man actually caring about the situation. Though, if one truly knew the fallen angel, they would immediately know it was all a ruse.

Naruto attempted to hold in a sigh at the man's behavior while subtly glancing over to the teen standing beside the fallen angel. The silver-haired boy looked to be a second away from striking the fallen angel if his twitching eyebrow was anything to go by.

"This is honestly so ridiculous." Vali muttered with his arms crossed. To be completely honest, the boy shouldn't of been that surprised. Azazel had been pulling crap like this since the day the fallen angel had taken him under his wings, no pun intended.

Azazel had been the one to find Vali when the boy had run away from his father. Years of abuse from the devil had made the decision to run away rather easy of the young longinus user. His father was beyond abusive as he attempted to end his life on several occasions.

Once he escaped from his father, the Divine Dividing wielder had spent weeks wandering the country. His nights were spent huddled in a ball for warmth while his days were spent attempting to find any tiny scrap of food he could. It was a difficult life but Vali preferred it much over the life he lived with his father.

It was about two months into his homelessness when Vali encountered the fallen angel. The boy had been going on his usual mid-day raid of the inattentive vendors that littered the streets of the city when he bumped into Azazel. And by bump, he literally meant bump as he slammed full force into the man's chest as he turned to escape with a mouthful of food.

Originally Vali was freaked out considering the fact that he had just plainly stolen from a vendor and Azazel was staring at him like he was the finest piece of meat ever served. The devil had been seconds away from turning and running in the opposite direction when Azazel finally spoke.

The Grigori leader came off as caring, sensible and reliable and before long, without him even knowing, Vali had subconsciously warmed up to him. The fallen angel had taken him out to eat, bought him new clothes and even provided him with a motel room to stay in for several nights. All of it came off as too real to be true for the devil so his first night in the motel had been spent attempting to dispel the "illusion" around him.

It wasn't until the third day after meeting Azazel that Vali realized that what he was experiencing was actually happening. And instead of being happy for the realization, the boy had grown suspicious. For years, his own father had been one of the biggest sources of pain for the boy. If his own father couldn't even muster up the emotions to care about him, how could this random guy do the same.

This line of thought had led to Vali abandoning the motel room gifted to him and running away once again. Though, unknown to the devil, he was being watched by the very same person he was running away from. And you can bet that the person wasn't going to let him get away so easily.

Azazel had quickly caught up to the boy and confronted him on his reasons for leaving. Vali, still not trusting the man at all, initially ignored him and tried to go around the fallen angel. Azazel was having none of that as he mirrored the boy's steps, blocking each of his escape routes.

Eventually Vali grew tired of the cat and mouse game and unleashed his powers in order to intimidate the man in front of him. The devil knew of his true lineage and the power that came with it. His body housed an unholy amount of demonic power. Based on that alone, he could've been considered one of the most powerful youths then and there.

To the boy's shock, Azazel didn't grow fearful and take off running towards the hill. No, the man did the exact opposite. He had actually started to laugh at him. The laugh wasn't just a short lived chuckle either. It was a full blown, stomaching aching laugh that had almost send the fallen angel collapsing onto his news. It did, however, send the descendant of the original lucifer into a pit of confusion.

He had been promptly pulled out of that pit when Azazel had suddenly stopped his laughter. The mirthful look that had just been present in the man's eyes had disappeared. The sudden switch in personality had caught Vali off guard but what the man did next caught him even more off guard.

With a simple grunt of exertion, twelve jet-black, glossy, feathered wings came shooting out of the man's back. And with the appearance of those wings came the presence of something absolutely vile. A feeling of dread filled Vali as the intangible, vile object seemed to surround him. His body seemed to grow cold and numb as the presence assaulted his every sense. His body had grown cold and numb as he was forced to collapse to the ground. He felt that his heart had been seconds away from stopping.

And just as suddenly as it appeared, it went away. The sense of dread and the nightmarish presence had vanished. With its disappearance, the half-devil had regained control over his body as he scrambled up to his feet, his breath labored from the sudden action.

"You have incredible power yet you lack direction. You will eventually die, most likely in a ditch somewhere, if you do not learn to control it. Come with me and I'll teach you." Vali still remembered the man's words. In retrospect, the teen wanted to go back and slap his younger self for being so naive. Azazel could've easily been plotting to use him or experiment him, especially considering the fact he had a sacred gear. Luckily for the devil, Azazel kept to his word.

The fallen angel had trained him. His training sessions with the fallen angels could be best described as experimental. Every single day, the man would throw something completely new at the boy. Vali had quickly learned to never not expect anything from the fallen angel. Training could consist of simple cardio exercises to waking up in the middle of a frozen tundra with no supplies, no map and a simple not telling him to find his way home. All of it was a pain in the ass to the teen but he couldn't complain. Though it may have been a pain, the fallen angel had torn the boy down to his base and built him back up, stronger than ever.

That didn't take away from the fact that the man was fucking insane and annoying as hell. This current situation he found himself in was just one of the many examples of the men's annoying tendencies.

"I'm sorry but no." Vali released a sigh of relief at the blonde's answer. Good. That's another pain in the ass dodged. He had no doubt that working at this shop would be troublesome. "He doesn't even look like he would last a day here." Wait what.

If there was one thing that Vali would freely admit about himself it would be that he was extremely competitive. His time under his father and Azazel made sure of that. And due to his competitive nature, the blonde's comment struck a nerve within him.

"What do you mean I wouldn't last?" Those were the first words spoken between the devil and the shinobi. Vali was obviously irritated by the teen's comment. After all, who was this blonde anyway to say stuff like that about him?! He was the descendant of the ORIGINAL lucifer. He held one of the strongest sacred gears in existence. He suffered daily training under the leader of the fallen angels for God's sake. He could handle anything this little shop could throw at him.

"You heard me. I can already see it. You would quit within a day if I asked you to do something as simple as the cash register. You aren't made for this type of stuff." Naruto's tone was very dismissive which served to piss Vali off even more. The silver haired boy took a step towards the shop owner while releasing a loud snarl.

"You don't know me. I'll take anything you throw at me and destroy it." The amount of conviction in the boy's voice brought a smile to Azazel's face. Even though he was sure that Vali was just pissed off at Naruto's comments, it was nice to see the boy being passionate about something other than training.

"Oh really then?" Naruto questioned while looking the boy up and down. Several tense seconds followed the blonde's statement as he took several steps towards the duo. Vali looked to be seconds away from decking the shinobi as the blonde got into his personal space.

"If you're so tough then meet me here at 5 am and prepared to start taking inventory. If you don't show up, I'll just take that as you admitting that you can't handle this business. Now get out." Naruto calmly said. Before either Vali or Azazel could even react, both found themselves standing on the outside of the shop. Vali blinked wildly at the sudden change in environment while Azazel released a low chuckle to himself.

"What the hell just happened?" Vali asked.

"You, my sweet, little Vali-chan, just got yourself your first real job. Now lets go get you tucked into bed. I have a feeling that tomorrow will be a hard day for you."

* * *

 _ **AN: The sun is coming up which means Christmas is most likely here. To those who celebrate it, Merry Christmas to you. To those who don't celebrate it, I'm glad you made it another year. I also posted another chapter of my DxD crossover so feel free to go give that a look. I'm going to try to get some rest before Christmas actually starts. Good night/morning to you all**_.


	15. Chapter 15

A cold shudder ran up Vali's spine as the cold winter air blasted against his body. The boy's breath was visible as he stood with his arms crossed over his chest in a feeble attempt to retain some of his body heat. A harsh scowl marked his face as he glanced down at the piece of paper locked between his fingers.

"It's already been two hour." The boy muttered to himself as he crushed the piece of paper before burning it with the usage of his devil power. He had been rudely awakened earlier that morning by a way too overly enthusiastic Azazel. The fallen angel had come charging into his room, waking him up for his rather peaceful sleep, before slamming a piece of paper on his chest and dashing back out. It had taken several seconds to fully awaken from the rude wake-up call before he even read the paper. The paper was orange in color and had the simple message of 'Don't forget, 5am.' written on it. Seeing that it was already 4ish, the devil had dragged himself out of bed, gotten dressed and made his way over to the shop.

That was two hours ago. It was now 6 am and there was absolutely no sign of the blonde. The bitter, winter cold made the wait seem twice as long. Each minute that the teen was forced to wait was another minute he was closer to blowing up the shop.

"No one would even know it was me." Vali mumbled to himself as his hands began to heat up from him channeling his demonic energy into him. He uncrossed his arms as twin orbs of energy formed against his palms. The orbs began to grow in size as Vali continued to feed them more and more of his energy.

"What do you think you're doing?" All the built up energy immediately died down when Vali heard a voice from behind him. The boy turned and came face to face with a warmly clothed Naruto with Koneko by his side.

"Where the hell have you been? I've been waiting out here for two hours and you just casually show up like this?" Vali yelled. Naruto blankly stared back at the irritated teen before walking past him to the door of the shop. Vali looked close to snapping as the blond took out a key and opened up the door before stepping inside.

" **This boy is really testing your patience. And you're really failing that test**." Vali released a loud grunt at his partner's words.

"Don't try to play his actions off as a test. He doesn't deserve to be let off so easily." Albion sighed at his host's response before going silent, realizing that the boy was too wrapped up in his anger to reason with. With his partner now silent, Vali made a weak attempt at reining in his anger before ultimately failing and following after the blond.

As soon as he entered, he was taken off guard as an apron slammed into his face. The devil quickly ripped away the garment from his face to glare at Naruto. The blond didn't seem the least bit bothered by the glare as he settled himself down at one of the tables with Koneko.

"Storage is in the back along with the inventory checklist. Make sure everything is in order before we open." The lackadaisical way the blond addressed him served to irritate the teen even more. And the devil was getting very close to violently expressing this irritation to his 'boss'.

"Aren't you at least going to show me where to go, _boss_." The last word was said with such thinly veiled sarcasm that Vali was sure that the shinobi would verbally retaliate. Fortunately for the devil, Naruto didn't seem to be too bothered by the remark as he stood from his seat and gestured for the sacred gear user to follow him.

The teen led them behind the counter of the shop and through it's backdoors. Vali was immediately taken back by the massive designs that covered the entirety of the floor and hallway walls. The hallway seemed to glow and pulsate with an entrancing sort of power that served to mesmerize the devil. He didn't have much time to examine the glowing patterns as he was dragged further back into the shop.

"Everything should be organized in the fridge and freezers. Just make sure everything is there and tell me if I should order some new stuff. Have fun." And with those words, the blond turned and left the room, leaving Vali alone in the artic cold room with a clipboard and a bad attitude.

"Why am I even doing this? I have much more important things to do." Vali grumbled under his breath as the blond's footsteps grew more and more faint.

" **Because your pride refuses to allow you to turn away from it now since the boy made it seem like you were too weak to accomplish it. Admittedly, the only reason you're here is because of your own stupid pride**." Vali huffed at his partner's comment but said nothing as he knew the dragon was partially right. If there was one thing that boy valued behind his fighting strength, it was his pride.

"Just shut up and let's get this over with."

* * *

"Are you being serious with me right now, Raphael? After that speech you made in the meeting, are you really going back on everything you said?" It was only the beginning hours of the day and Michael could already tell that today was going to be a pain in the ass.

The day had started with a weekly report on his desk. Reading through the document confirmed what the Seraph feared, more and more angels were falling to the call of sin. Their numbers were dwindling rapidly and as for right now, there was no end in sight.

After sitting and praying, an activity that he wasn't sure had any effect nowadays, he started his daily round of meetings. Everything from low-level angels complaining of housing issues to archangels requesting less missions were heard by the stand-in God. Most of the requests or issues were rather mundane and didn't really require his personal attention. It was a task that was probably better off be delegated to a lesser being but Michael felt that it was his personal responsibility to hear them out, no matter how picayune they may be. Fortunately for the blond, his bland meetings had been interrupted by the appearance of one of his top generals, Raphael.

Raphael was one of Michael's most trusted advisors and one of his greatest friends. The angel of healing had stood by his side during the war against the devils and fallen angels. He had been there for him during the mourning of his father. He had been at the forefront of the people who supported him taking over the role of God.

The archangel was considered one of the wisest amongst the heavenly court. His powers of healing made him well-worshipped and respected by both humans and angels. His word was considered golden and should never be taken lightly. Having him by his side had been a great boon early in Michael's transition to his new position.

"I know that it's sudden but recent events have made it clear to me that this militarization and pursuit of the boy isn't the best idea." The angel was straight-faced as he addressed his superior and friend. Michael released an exhausted sigh as he reclined back into his chair. This was not what he needed to be hearing right now.

"What is with this sudden change in heart?" He asked, his voice a mixture of exhaustion, frustration and curiosity. Raphael seemed to pick up on these emotions as his own face softened before he began to address his friend.

"You forget that I am the one who puts together that folder you have on your desk every week. I am not ignorant to the knowledge that our numbers are falling. While we are not in immediate danger, we are certainly nowhere near full strength. With the patrol we sent out and the beefed up border, our actual combat numbers, at the moment, are at an all-time low. Plus our extra presence on earth is drawing warning flags from the other factions. Our actions could unintentionally lead to war." Raphael explained. Silence hung between the two for several long seconds as Michael took in the information. His emotions were unreadable as a mask of stoicism settled upon his face.

"What's the real reason, Raphael? I know you. You may not be one for arrogance but you take pride in the strength of our brethren yet here you are doubting them because of our 'numbers'. We both know you don't fully believe in any of that." Raphael looked caught off-guard by the angel's statement. His surprised look was met with a stoic glance from Michael, showing that the angel hadn't fallen for it at all. Raphael released a small chuckle as he threw his arms up in the air.

"Fine, fine. You got me. I should've realized that I couldn't get by you that easily." He lowered his arms back to down to his side as his face took on a more serious tone. "That still doesn't mean I don't believe that we should ease up on spreading ourselves so thin."

"When you give me the real reason as to why you think that, maybe I may take your worries into consideration." Raphael stayed silent for a moment at his friend's response before releasing a small sigh.

"I think we should attempt to recruit the boy or at the very least ally with him." The incredulous look that greeted him almost forced a chuckle out of Raphael but he managed to hold it in. Michael didn't seem as amused as he shot up from his seat.

"Are you okay? Are you sick? Are you in the process of falling or something? I've never seen you go back on your own decision this quickly in my whole lifetime. It was only a week ago that you were calling for this boy's capture and death." If the situation hadn't been so serious, Raphael would've been touched by the sincerity in his friend's concern. He wasn't too surprised by Michael's reaction. After all, he, himself, had a reputation for a stubborn streak.

"I assure you that I am completely fine. My original judgement was based off an initial reaction to the news that Heaven had apparently been invaded. Now that I have had time to fully assess the situation, I can speak with a much clearer sense of mind." Raphael and Michael entered into a staring match as neither refused to back down from each other. While it lacked the coldness that it usually carried, Raphael's face was still contorted into his patent, emotionless mask. Michael's brow was creased with worry as his eyes scanned over his friend's face for a sign. What that sign was, he didn't know exactly.

After a full minute of silent staring, Michael seemed to admit defeat as he collapsed back into his seat. The man's hand came up to his forehead as he began to nurse a headache he was sure was only going to grow worse.

"Explain to me what changed your mind. And don't give me any more fake reasons."Raphael shook off his friend's dismissive tone as he stood from his seat.

"As you know, the 'boy' is located within the town of Kuoh, a well-known territory for devils. We don't have much influence there but with the admission of Asia Argento into the town, I called for an increase of our presence in the city. While the church made of ex-communicated her, she is still too valuable of an asset to just leave unattended, especially in a territory with such high devil activity." The Angel of Healing started off as a folder materialized in his hand. He placed the folder down on Michael's desk and allowed the Seraph to open it before continuing.

"I had several low-level angels place themselves amongst the town folk a few weeks before in preparation for her arrival. I lost contact with them a while ago and with having no idea what was going on, decided against sending any more scouts to the area. I kept with this idea until a week ago when the boy escaped Heaven. I thought that there may of been a possibility that he was responsible for the deaths of the angels." Michael paid rapt attention to his general's words as he flipped through the folder. The folder was filled with numerous reports and pictures of Kuoh. Everything from its forest's density to its industry area was included with the reports.

"So I sent a small group of scouts down into Kuoh once again. They unfortunately learned that the original group had been killed by a faction of fallen angels that had taken refuge in one of the abandoned churches in Kuoh. I would've immediately charged down there myself and rid them of their lives if it wasn't for the fact that Kuoh belonged to one of the higher ranking devil families and we weren't exactly supposed to be there in the first place. The situation definitely was not pleasant;however, the second group of scouts managed to retrieve the original group's reports that were left untouched by the fallen angel's. That report is in your hands right now." Raphael paused in his talking as Michael continued to idly flip through the folder.

"Okay. While I'm not exactly too upset at the fact that we managed to infiltrate a devil territory, I still don't see how any of this managed to shape your opinion on what to do with the child." Michael said as he closed the folder before placing it back on his desk. Raphael nodded before reaching down and taking the folder for himself, beginning to flip through it immediately.

"At first, it had no affect on my own opinion. That's until I started to actually read the full report. One thing that stood out amongst all of the reports was a sudden spike in the natural energy around Kuoh." Michael frowned at the mention of senjutsu. The corruption of Earth's life-force, one of the last remaining pieces of his father, was not something he enjoyed hearing about.

"So are you saying that a youkai managed to find its way in Kuoh?" Michael questioned. His question was immediately answered with a negative shake of Raphael's head.

"I assumed the same thing before reading further into the report. While it had the markings of natural energy, it was different from the type that the youkai used. Our scouts reported that it felt … "pure". The best way to describe it is how they put it: 'Just like Heaven.'" Michaels' eyebrow shot up at the revelation. No one should've been able to replicate the perfect conditions of Heaven. That's what made it Heaven. It was a one-of-a-kind paradise.

"And the centerpoint of this energy just so happened to be at the Candy shop and the surrounding forest." Raphael stopped to allow the information to sink in for Michael.

"This may coincide with the reason why his name isn't present in the Book of Life." Michael mumbled out. Now it was Raphael's turn to be shocked at a revelation.

"His name wasn't in the book? So he is a devil?" Michael gave a negative shake of his head once again as he gave a snap of his fingers. Within a bright flash of light, the Book of Life appeared before the duo.

"As you know, the Book of Life records the name, information and life of all living creatures. Any name that isn't recorded is that of a natural born devil. Even our fallen brethren have their names recorded. This fact led me to assume that the boy was a devil except for one thing. He was present in the seventh level of Heaven and didn't instantly combust into flames. If he was a devil, his presence in Heaven would've been the most torturous experience of his life."

"So he isn't an angel. He isn't a devil. He also isn't a fallen angel. Most likely isn't a youkai. He's not a human since his name isn't recorded in the book so no hero descendant. We don't even know where he is from. What in the lord's name is he then?" Raphael questioned. Michael didn't respond for several seconds before slowly opening the Book of Life to the back.

"Unknown to most, the Book of Life has one exception when it comes down to who it records. While it is a creation of our father, some creatures manage to get around it's all-knowing ability. These creatures are mostly exclusive to Gods of other mythologies." Michael turned the book towards a nervous Raphael. While this wasn't his first time getting a glance at the Book of Life, it was certainly the furthest he had been in it.

The archangel was surprised to see two completely blank pages. Actually, the closer that he looked, the more he realized that the pages weren't actually blank. Small pieces of writing could be seen briefly on the paper before they were washed away like sand on the beach. This process seemed to continue on endlessly, never lasting long enough for Raphael to get a full glance of one of the names.

"Everyone from Zeus to name of the Buddhas are supposed to be contained on these pages. Unfortunately with their own divine power, they have managed to bypass the book's power. All information we have on them is fully artificial." Michael said as he pulled the book back towards himself before closing it.

"With the information you have given me today, I have reached one conclusion. Our target isn't just a 'boy'. He is most likely an entity, a God like our father. From which faction, I do not know. He could be the worship figure of a backwater tribe of people or even an unknown nature god of one of the well-known myths. We do not know. But there's one thing for certain. We can no longer treat this 'boy' as a simple nuisance. I thank you, Raphael. You have opened my eyes to his potential ally or an even greater threat with the information you have gathered." Raphael blinked in shock as Michael shot up from his seat and bowed to him. It was very rare that the blond showed such a level of humility and respect to anyone excluding his sister or his late father.

"Think nothing of it, brother. Anything for the continuation of our father's legacy." Raphael said. Michael raised from his bow and offered the archangel a small smile before Raphael turned and exited the room.

"Is this one of your blessings father? Have you used Raphael to uncover my eyes to a gift you have left for us? I can only assume that this boy's presence is your will and I will follow it and him to my grave." He glanced silently up at the ceiling of his office for several long moments before bowing his head once again and disappearing from the room in a brilliant flash of life. He had work to do.

* * *

"Young man, my cookies were several underbaked. Now let me be clear. I've been coming to this place ever since it opened up and I've come to expect A-class quality from here. This is the first time I've been truly disappointed by one of your products. Now, this doesn't mean I'm going to demonize the shop but next time time I…" Vali had long since drowned out the excessive, whining of the customer in front of him. To be completely honest, it wasn't that hard to do. He didn't care much about her opinion of the shop or her cookie order.

It was about mid-day in Kuoh and Naruto's shop was in full swing. People on the lunch break were flooding in and out of the house for a quick taste of the some sweets in order to get them through the rest of their days. It was a constant and repetitive flow of people that helped keep the shop afloat.

Usually Naruto would be manning the register considering the fact that just earlier that week, he was the only employee present. But with the addition of Vali to the team, the blond had immediately put the devil to work as the cashier. The owner, himself, was still behind the counter except now he was making him busy by making more snacks and watching Vali attempt to hold in his anger.

"Furthermore, do you guys make your lemonade fresh squeezed? If so, I highly recommend you guys start doing so. It gives the beverage a much higher quality taste. A simple change can take this business a long way. Hey, are you listening to me young man? I am your customer and I demand that you listen to my co-" The portly man's complaints were put to a stop when his 'underbaked' cookie- the thing that had started off this whole rant- slammed into his face with enough force to actually force to man to stumble backwards a few steps. A series of astonished sputters exited the man's mouth as he looked between an agitated Vali and the crumbled remains of his cookie.

"H-How … How dare you! You call this proper customer service?! This behavior is absolutely despicable. Outrageous! I want to speak with your manager im-" Another cookie sailed through the air and slammed into the man's forehead, this one sending him to the ground. He attempted to scramble back up to his feet but was halted as a hail of cookies rained upon him. A terrified scream accompanied the man's departure as he crawled his way to the main entrance of the shop and out of the door, leaving behind a whole room full of shocked customers.

Vali stood with several cookies in his hand as all eyes turned towards the teenage devil. He watched as some picked up their meals before dashing out of the shop, causing him to release a hush as he lowered his cookie projectiles.

"Those cookies will be coming out of your paycheck. Plus you're going to have to sweep up those crumbs." Vali turned to shoot a scowl at his blonde boss. The teen didn't seem to register the nasty look as he continued to knead away at the dough in his hands.

"Why should I have to pay for that? You heard that man. Anyone would've did what I did after listening to that slob babble on about his stupid cookies." The devil's tone was bitter, his agitation clearly showing in his speech. It was bad enough that he had to work but now he was getting his pay deducted.

" **Once again, you don't have to work here. You have no obligation to him, this shop or anyone. The only thing that is keeping you chained to this place is your own pride**." His partner's voice echoed loudly in his head. Vali's scowl deepened as he turned away from Naruto, not even bothering to listen to the blonde's response.

"Shut your trap, you old lizard." Vali huffed while making his way over towards the sanitation equipment. His partner's words weren't true. He was doing this for good reasons! … Reasons that he couldn't name currently.

Didn't mean they didn't exist, though.

A brief sting of pain ripped through Vali's head, causing the boy to stumble during his walk. The devil quickly recovered and directed his head towards the door, his eyes narrowing in the process. If he had looked to his side, he would've noticed that his boss had the same exact look.

The room seemed to grow cold as two men wearing trench coats entered the shop. The temperature took a nosedive as a light mist followed in behind the duo. Customers froze in the middle of their meals as the chill of the room dug into their bodies.

Vali met eyes with the taller of the duo and had to stop himself from gasping at the man's identity. These two weren't supposed to be here. Had Azazel sent them or had they come on their own accord? If it was the latter, what was that accord.

The devil's questions went unanswered as the two figures stride past him straight towards the register. The cold temperature that accompanied their arrival persisted as got got closer and closer to shop's counter. Naruto paid the duo no mind as he continued to meticulous molding of his dough.

"Excuse me." The man's voice was a deep, rich baritone. It was voice that contained power, a deep and ancient power that commanded respect with its very present. Unfortunately for the voice and it's owner, Naruto didn't care much for power.

Naruto's finger sunk deep into the dough as he continued to work it over, completely ignoring the presence of the two people standing before him. The cold air that flowed around the incognito duo did little to bother the blond as he threw the dough from hand to hand.

"I said excuse me." The owner of the deep voice spoke out once again, a slight tension now present in his voice. Being ignored was certainly something the man didn't feel like going through. Once again, unfortunately for the man's dwindling patience, he was interacting with Naruto Uzumaki.

A pleasant hum began to emit from Naruto's lips, an action that unknowingly broke the last bit of patience that the man had. A small twitch of the man's brow was the only indication of his irritation as his partner seemed to take that as his cue to step in.

"Excuse me sir. Are you the one named Naruto Uzumaki." This statement seemed to finally catch Naruto's attention as he looked up from his inordinate amount of dough kneading. The blond had a pleasant smile on his face.

"Yes it is. Is there any reason why you two fallen angel's are in my shop?" The casualness in the boy's voice threw the duo off. They hadn't been expecting such a direct statement from him. Though that didn't deter them for long.

"I'm sorry if you see our presence troubles you. I can assure you that we are here on friendly terms. We mean you nor your shop any harm." The taller of the two spoke as he dropped his hood, his partner following suit behind him. In the background, Vali bit down a curse as Baraqiel and Shemhazai's identities were unveiled.

Naruto waved off the man's apologies while stepping out from behind his counter. The blond then proceeded to reach his back, causing the fallen angel duo to tense up as they prepared for a surprise attack. Vali clutched onto the broom in his hand as he prepared to defend his boss. Even though he found the blond human to be an annoyance, he didn't think a human versus two generals of the fallen angel army was a very fair fight.

Everyone was relieved when they realized that Naruto was simply undoing the knot that was holding his smock together. The blond balled up the garment and threw it behind the counter before turning and facing the duo once again.

"You guys don't bother me. I'm pretty sure it's bothering my customers. The smoke is a bit over the top, don't ya think?" Naruto asked. Baraqiel nodded his head before turning to look at Shemhazai. The fallen angel released a small grunt before the oppressing presence, along with the smoke, disappeared from the shop, much to the relief of the remaining customers. Naruto released a pleasant hum as the relaxed atmosphere returned to the shop.

"That is much better. Now let's take this conversation somewhere else." Baraqiel offered the teen a small nod before following after him with Shemhazai in tow. Naruto got back behind the counter and was about to walk into the backroom before stopping in his tracks. He turned towards the still shocked Vali and offered his fellow teen a small wave.

"Man the shop for me a bit. Make sure you don't throw anymore cookies." The blond then descended into the back of the shop with the fallen angel, leaving the devil teen all alone with a shop full of customers.

" **Y'know, its a bit foolish to think that the boy is a normal human when he has connection with Azazel. You shouldn't make assumptions, child. They'll get you killed.** " Vali was snapped out of his shock by his partner's words. A small scowl placed itself on his face as he quickly made his way back towards the counter.

"I'm starting to realize that myself. But I'm not sensing any sort of supernatural energy coming from him. He does have a very strong life force though. Still an annoying asshole."

" **A lot of the people you interact with are assholes. The question you should be asking is: have you found yourself a new ally or do you have another target that you'll eventually have to do with?** "

"Who know. Either way, I'm prepared to kick his ass no matter what it comes down to."

* * *

 _ **AN: Hello people. Another chapter has been posted. Hope you guys enjoyed it. A little of an announcement, I will not be posting anymore chapters for the month of January. I will instead be going through the first several chapters of this fic and editing it. Nothing big, just grammar and vocab changes. Expect a new chapter on February 1st. Until then, enjoy your January.**_


	16. Chapter 16

"Can I offer either of you guys a drink or maybe you would enjoy a cookie?" Baraqiel and Shemhazai glanced to each other as the blond went about recommending different snacks and treats to them. The teen had his back turned to the trio, an action that screamed of ignorance and defenselessness. It was hard to believe that the person rambling about snacks in front of them was the same person who managed to defeat their leader. Though, considering how Azazel could act at times, it probably shouldn't have been too surprising to either of them

"Not to seem too disrespectful but we will both have to decline. Our presence here is for other reasons." Baraqiel stated, causing Naruto to turn towards the two with a slightly hurt look on his face. The look quickly disappeared as the blond recomposed himself in front of the duo, taking on a more serious air as his posture stiffened.

"You're right. Is it right for me to assume that you guys are with Azazel?" It was the fallen angel's turn to stiffen at the directness in the boy's statement. The 180 degree change in the blond's reaction was a little disarming though neither of them were complaining. A more serious attitude would hopefully speed this whole process up. After all, this was an issue that they were hoping would've been taken care of weeks ago, but thanks to Azazel, it had been delayed to up to this point.

"You would be correct. Before any assumptions are made, we would like to apologize for his actions. We never intended for things to grow as out of hand as they did with him. While he is our leader, his actions do not represent our intentions when it comes to our relationship with you." Baraqiel gave a slight bow of his head, an action that the fallen angel rarely ever did. It was a huge show of respect which was something Baraqiel had for few people.

"There's no need for any of that. I've been dealing with perverted idiots my whole life. Azazel is no different from the rest of them." The teen's statement brought a small chuckle from Shemhazai, earning the fallen angel a harsh glance from his partner. The man didn't seem to bothered by the look as he waved it away with a flippant shake of his hand.

"Don't give me that look Baraqiel. The boy is right. Azazel is a perverted idiot and I'm glad that other people are starting to realize that." Shemhazai said to his partner's face before turning to face Naruto. The man seemed a lot more relaxed now that he had started to speak with the teen. His demeanor was as if he was speaking with a friendly face instead of a potential enemy.

"Look kid, I've never been one for beating around the bush. That's just not how I operate. I leave most of the talking to Bara and Azazel. But you seem like my type of guy. So I'm going to be straightforward with you. We want you to work with us. If you're strong enough to beat Azazel, even if the idiot was most likely messing around, then you're good enough for me. So how bout it?" The fallen angel couldn't of been more direct in his tone, a fact that served to draw a sigh out from Baraqiel.

" _I should've figured something like this would happen. He was just complaining about how Azazel doesn't stick to plans yet he goes off and does the exact same thing_." The man couldn't help but think to himself. It was partly his fault for not stopping Shemhazai in the first place but he assumed the action would only make the duo look unorganized and eventually push the blond away from wanting to join them. And if the rumors about the 'boy' were true, that would be a very bad situation for the fallen angel faction.

Naruto couldn't help but be amused at the silent interaction between the two. Shemhazai looked as happy as he could be while Baraqiel looked to be seconds away from choking the life out of his partner. The two reminded him of the earlier relationship between himself and Sasuke. Though, it was pretty weird that two beings that were hundreds of years old could emulate the behavior of two teenage boys.

"I'm sorry to say this but I have to say no. No offense to either of you or your organization but I rather stay out of all of this crap." Naruto tried his very best to make sure his statement came off as polite as possible. He didn't want to incite another fight within his shop when there were customers only a few feet away.

"I sincerely request that you change your mind about this decision. You do not have to give us an answer immediately but we do ask that you give this more thought." Baraqiel stepped in as he sensed Shemhazai was about to open his mouth and say something that would lower their chances of recruiting the boy even more.

"Once again, I don't want to seem disrespectful but my decision will still be no. It will be no tomorrow and it will be no the day after that. This isn't a decision that I am easily going to be swayed on." The mirth from Naruto's voice was slowly beginning to fade away as the tension in the room started to rise.

"That is a shame. We were really hoping that you would see things our way." Baraqiel commented as Shemhazai shuffled awkwardly next to him. The trio of men descended into an awkward silence as the tension reached its apex.

" **Don't be fooled. The one to the right is building up his energy. I suggest you act first or you risk the safety of your 'precious customer**.'" Kurama spoke up from his silence. The frown on Naruto's face deepened as he realized just how out of hand the situation was getting.

" _And here I was, hoping that we could handle this without getting violent. Guess things really never according to plan_." The blond couldn't help but sigh to himself, earning him an amused snort from his 'prisoner'.

" **You wouldn't be you if everyday of your life didn't include some type of violence**." It was Naruto's turn to snort. He couldn't deny the tailed beast's comment. Even since his arrival in this world, his daily routine contained some type of excitement or chaos. He honestly didn't think he would be able to function without it.

"You got me there. Still, I wish this could've been avoided. The shorter one seemed like a pretty nice guy." Just as Naruto had that thought, Baraqiel spoke up.

"Restrain the boy." The man's order was simple yet his partner seemed to fully understand. Without any hesitation, Shemhazai slammed his glowing palms onto the floor of the room.

Naruto stiffened as he felt an overwhelming pressure land down upon his shoulder. His attention was forced down to the glowing seal that was now present beneath his feet. It wasn't too hard of an assumption to make that the seal was the fallen angel's doing.

"I truly am sorry for this but you don't seem to grasp the magnitude of this decision. This is for the preservation and advancement of our race. We are not sure when people will come to we must do what we must until that day becomes clear. I hope that you do not take it personally." Baraqiel stated as he walked up towards the immobile blond. Naruto raised an eyebrow up at the fallen angel as the man began to mutter strange incantations beneath his breath. The man's speech was in a completely different language, making it complete gibberish to the 'captured' shinobi.

"I almost feel bad about this." Naruto's comment did little to slow Baraqiel in his speech, an action that the fallen angel would soon come to regret. The shinobi glanced over to a stoic Shemhazai before shooting the man a small smirk before disappearing from the room in a bright, yellow flash.

"Shit!" Shemhazai shouted as he watched their target disappear. The fallen angel was so caught off guard by the action that he wasn't able to fully react when Naruto appeared behind him. His hesitation cost him as Naruto was able to place his hand on the fallen angel's shoulder and flash back out of the room.

Baraqiel turned as the absence of his partner immediately became known to him. The man's energy signature had been directly behind him only a second ago but now it was completely gone. Not even a small glimpse of it could be sensed by the fallen angel, a fact which only served to put Baraqiel more on guard.

"Like you said earlier, I hope you don't take this personally." Baraqiel turned with a light spear in hand as the blond's voice assaulted his ears. With blinding speed, he stabbed the spear forward in hopes of skewering the teen that had so easily dealt away with his partner. Unfortunately for the fallen angel, Naruto easily side stepped the rushed attack before grabbing onto Baraqiel's extended arm.

Now let it be known, Baraqiel had taken apart in his fair share of teleportation magic. The act of flying quickly lost its novelty when there were methods that were much faster. His first experience using the branch of spells had left him without his breakfast. Having your body ripped through time and space tended to do that to you. Though he eventually grew used to the feeling.

Nothing could've prepared him for the experience of the Flying God Technique. The amount of force and pressure the technique pushed upon the fallen angel had left the man gasping for air when he finally managed to escape its grasp. He vaguely noticed Shemhazai's absence as he collapsed down onto his hands and knees while taking in huge gulps of air

"Really wish we could've gotten along better. I don't blame you guys for being so forceful but maybe next time try saying please before you go try to kidnap a person. If you ever need some snacks for your faction, feel free to place an order anytime. See ya later." Baraqiel was vaguely aware of the words that blond was saying as he tried to recover from having his body forcibly moved through time and space. It was only after several minutes of stomach churning nausea was Baraqiel able to climb back up to his feet.

"That boy." The fallen angel muttered to himself as he began to take note of his surroundings. The blond had moved the man into what seemed to be a desert. He could see nothing but long stretches of sand for miles. The heat coming off the sand was already causing a sweat to form against his skin.

"I'm going to strangle that child when I get my hands on him. First I have to locate that other idiot." And with, the fallen angel unfurled his wings and took off to the skies.

* * *

"You have five seconds to explain what just happened or I'll blow you and this rinky dink shop off this plane of existence." Naruto raised a single eyebrow as he stared down at the ball of energy aimed at his throat. Connected to the ball of energy was the arm of a very agitated Vali Lucifer.

After dealing with Baraqiel and Shemhazai, Naruto had reappeared in the backroom of the shop only to be confronted by the irritated teen. The devil had immediately grabbed onto the collar of his shirt and confronted him with the attack. The action came off as surprising to the blond.

"Seems like the boy has some connection with the fallen angel's. How shocking." Kurama commented as Naruto continued his staredown with the devil. The blond's face was set in an amused smirk as he started to address the teen.

"You know it's illegal to threaten your boss in your workplace. I'm pretty sure it's illegal to do it anywhere else either but especially in your workplace." Naruto stated. Vali released a loud growl at the flippant comment before thrusting his attack forward.

To the devil's disappointment and the blond's amusement, the devil's attack fizzled out of existence as soon as it got within inches of Naruto's face. Naruto couldn't help but chuckle at his fellow teen's confused look.

"Do you really think I would just allow someone to attack me in my own store?" Vali didn't get a chance to reply to the blond's question as he was forced to undergo the same treatment Baraqiel and Shemhazai had just underwent. WIthout even prompting the devil, Naruto had used the Hiarishin to transport him away.

Vali sucked in a large, labored breath as his ability to breathe returned to him. During the actual technique, the boy had been left breathless as his body rocketed through through dimensions. The experience was certainly something he didn't want to experience again.

"Whenever you manage to catch your breath, we can start talking." Vali was vaguely aware of the blond's comment as he tried to get his stomach back under his control. The devil felt as if he was seconds away from throwing up his lunch, breakfast and last night's dinner. The sense of nausea just didn't seem to want to go away.

It was only after a few long and nausea filled minutes that Vali was able to climb up to his feet. The devil immediately noticed that he was no longer present in the blond's shop. The environment he was in now was vastly different from the shop with an entire forests worth of trees surrounding him.

"Have you caught your breath?" Vali's head shot up as the sound of Naruto's voice came from above him. The devil found his 'boss' hanging from the underside of one of the tree branches without the use of his hands. The blond was simply just sticking to the branch.

"Shut … your mouth!" Vali growled out as he took in the trees around him. Naruto shook his head at the devil's question before cutting the flow of chakra to his feet, his feet landing on the forest's floor several seconds later. The shinobi stood over the kneeling teen, his foot tapping the ground repeatedly as he began to speak.

"Since you don't seem to want to start talking, let me start by asking some questions. Are you a devil or a fallen angel? I sensed some demonic energy in your attacks yet you're associate yourself with Azazel so I'm not entirely sure." Naruto asked. The blond got his response in the form of an attack as Vali swiped at his chest. The devil was unsuccessful in his attempt as Naruto managed to jump out of range of the teen's strike.

Vali quickly climb onto his feet before taking off towards Naruto. The blond stood still as the devil ran full speed at him. The teen's speed was impressive yet nowhere close to the type he had been forced to face during his own time as a shinobi.

The devil closed the distance between the two within an instance. He started off his assault by throwing a quick jab at Naruto's head. The blond ducked his head to the side, avoiding the blow while sending his own punch at the teen. The devil swiped away the shinobi's punch before headbutting the blond, an unexpected move that caught Naruto by surprise as he was sent stumbling backwards.

"Albion, come forth!" Vali yelled while Naruto stumbled backwards. Within the blink of an eye, a pair of glistening blue wings appeared from the teen's shoulder blade. The wings were reminiscent of a bat as the devil quickly took to the skies.

"Divide!" The devil declared from his aerial position. At the same moment, Naruto, who had since recovered from the headbutt, felt his chakra be cut in half.

Now, unfortunately for Vali, Naruto was used to having his chakra literally be split in half. After all, that was the basis behind his signature move, the Shadow Clone jutsu. So when devil's divine divide came into effect, the shinobi wasn't fazed one bit.

This showed as Naruto was able to send himself launching towards the airborne devil. Vali, who had been expected some type of visible response from the blond, hesitated momentarily, an act that would cost him as Naruto appeared above him and landed a heavy hay-maker against the teen's cheek. The force behind the blow sent the young devil-human hybrid spiraling through the air while Naruto descended back down to the ground.

With the usage of his wings, Vali quickly managed to recover from the punch. The devil wasn't given much rest as several came flashing towards him. The devil was forced to fly even higher into the air in order to dodge the projectiles.

"Divide!" Vali yelled as he flew higher into the air. He felt a large mass of energy flow into his body, yet the blond showed no visible reaction as he continued to send kunai after kunai towards the flying devil.

" _Why the hell isn't it working_?" The teen didn't have much time to ponder the answer as a kunai nicked his midsection, causing him to stumble in his flight. Vali paid for the mishap as several more kunai sliced into his body.

" **Idiot, it is working. If you haven't noticed, your wings are the brightest they have ever been. The child just has so much energy that taking half of it doesn't seem to affect him**." Vali glanced down to his wings at his partner's words. To his surprise, he was actually forced to cover his eyes as the light coming from his wings were too bright for his own eyes.

"Never take your eyes off an opponent." Vali managed to hear the blond shout before a bullet of air struck him in the stomach. The teen was sent spiralling back towards the ground where his face was greeted with the hard and unforgiving forest floor.

"He really doesn't want to give up. Reminds me of myself a bit." The blond mused as he watched the devil attempt to climb back up to his feet immediately after his fall. Not many people would even try to get back after being kicked out of the sky by him. It was somewhat admirable.

Unfortunately for the devil, he wouldn't get much of a chance to fight back as Naruto threw several more kunai his way. The bladed weapons landed in a square-like formation around the downed teen. Unlike before, these kunais had several small paper tags wrapped around their handles. The nature of the tags became clear as a blue barrier erected itself around the silverette with the kunais serving as the corner points of the barrier.

" **Wonder how you plan on getting yourself out of this one?** " Albion said as he observed the barrier from his container's point of view. Vali paid the dragon no attention as he once again climbed up to his feet. The barrier surrounding him allowed him enough room to take a couple steps in each direction but it wasn't much. The devil took several tentative steps towards the barrier before slowly reaching out towards it. As soon as his fingers made contact with the barrier they began to singe, causing the boy to release a loud hiss while retracting his arm.

"I promise you, you won't be able to force yourself out of that without missing a few body parts. So why don't you just sit back, relax and start talking?" The blond drawled out in a casual manner as he took a seat in front of the restrained devil.

" **I advise that you actually listen to him. He is able to resist our Divide and we have no idea the strength of this barrier. Lull him into a sense of security and convince him to release us then we can move accordingly.** " Albion's voice echoed in Vali's head as the boy continued to glance in between the sitting blond and the barrier. The devil contemplated his partner's words and the current situation he was in. From the blond's demeanor, he didn't seem to be in a rush at all which worried the devil. Confidence in this world meant one of two things, an large amount of strength and technique or an overwhelming sense of arrogance. And considering the way the blond had knocked him out the sky and trapped him in this barrier, he was going to assume the blond possessed the former.

Vali sighed as he climbed to his hands and feet. He quickly transitioned to a sitting position before meeting eyes with Naruto. The blond expression was still set in a bored mask as his eyes drilled into the devil. Vali met the shinobi's eyes as he began to speak.

"Fine, you want me to talk? I'll talk. Get comfortable though, this will take a while."

* * *

The sound of a door slamming shut announced Naruto's return to his home. The blond's subsequent sigh and groan further pronounced this fact as the boy immediately trudged towards his kitchen.

His talk with Vali had been rather … interesting. The first thing he had noticed was that the boy was a crappy liar. Everything out of his mouth was either half truths or just complete lies. He couldn't exactly blame the devil;after all, he would've behaved the same way if someone was forcibly interrogating him.

The devil had given him the bare minimum of his backstory. He claimed to have been of devil descent and had no fallen angel blood within him. The teen claimed to be Azazel's protege, a fact which seemed to add up pretty well considering the apparent closeness between the duo.

The devil had also explained to him who exactly Baraqiel and Shemhazai. When it was revealed that the two fallen angel's were actually the right hand men to Azazel, he had been taken by surprise. The two, even Shemhazai, had seemed much more competent than the perverted fallen angel though he had yet to test either of the three in full combat. If what the devil was saying was true, he was pretty lucky he managed to catch them off guard with Hiraishin. The duo could've done plenty of damage to his shop and his customers.

In the end, he had decided to allow the boy to go. He had even made sure to let the devil know that he was still welcome to work here. He seriously doubted that Vali would actually accept the offer but he was still going to put it out there.

"I'm going to have to start adding more security seals to the shop since all these people know about it now." He released a groan as he thought of all the extra work he was going to have to put into his store. He decided he would let future Naruto deal with that. At the moment, all he wanted to focus on was a big bowl of ramen.

The shinobi went to unseal his cabinet, but was stopped when he heard the subtle sound of footsteps coming from behind him. He couldn't help but want to sigh as the footsteps came closer and closer to him.

"I thought you were finished with the assassination attempts." Naruto said as he turned to face a 'stealthy' Kuroka. The nekoshou was dressed in her usual outfit and stood frozen in a pose that a child would make if they were caught sneaking around. The look on the woman's face would've been pretty amusing to the blond if Kuroka also didn't have a kitchen knife in her hand.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." The woman's words would've came off as convincing if she hadn't blatantly threw the knife away from herself in an attempt to hide her own guilt in the process. Naruto rolled his eyes at the Nekoshou before turning back around to prepare his ramen.

His and Kuroka relationship had since evolved from their initial meeting of each other. Now don't get him wrong, Naruto knew that the moment he released the seal around the Nekoshou's neck, she would probably attempt to slit his throat but she had become a lot less spiteful in her action and speakings towards him. She had actually admitted to enjoy the consistency of their arrangement. As he long as he brought her home some sweets and dealt with her teasing, she would be satisfied. For now.

"I can't really smell Shiro-chan on you today yet you reek of fallen angel. Are you neglecting my little sister again?" The woman's voice was filled with mock anger as she attempted to turn the subject away from her mock assassination attempt. Naruto waved off the devil's comment as he set the pot of water down on his stove top to boil.

"She had to do stuff with her peerage tonight. We're actually going on a date tomorrow so you can stop it with the "me being a neglectful boyfriend" act." Naruto commented as he dumped the contents of the Ramen packet into the boiling water. Kuroka hummed thoughtfully to herself before a sly smirk suddenly made its way to her face. The smirk only seemed to grow as the girl slowly approached the unsuspecting blond.

"Soooo… Have you and Koneko done it yet?" Kuroka had to hold in a giggle as she watched the blond freeze up at her words. Within a second, the teen was now facing her with a large blush staining his cheeks.

"What type of question is that? You can't just ask stuff like that out of the blue!" The boy's voice had raised an octave higher as his embarrassment leaked into his voice. The higher pitch served to amuse the Nekoshou as she released a giggle before slinking even closer to Naruto.

"If it involves my sister, I have the right to know. Now answer my question, Nya! Have you and Shirone done it yet? If you have, I hope you were gentle with my little sister. She isn't built as tough as tough as me." She emphasized her point by running her hands over her clothed body. That action, along with the woman's line of questioning, officially stunned the blond as he started to stutter.

"Y-you … I … You can't just… Uggh." The shinobi, knowing that he had already lost the verbal confrontation with the woman, decided to just groan and turn away from her to save face. There's was no point in continuing to face Kuroka if all he was going to do was embarrass himself even more.

"Just promise me you'll make me their godmother when they eventually pop out. I would do absolutely anything if you let me name one of them." Kuroka made sure her breasts were pressed fully against the boy's backside as she talked. It seemed the combination of her words and actions were too much for Naruto as the teen disappeared from the kitchen in a swirl of wind and leaves, leaving an amused Kuroka alone with his ramen.

* * *

 _ **AN: Hello everyone. This is out a day earlier but I doubt anyone really cares about that. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter.**_

 _ **To address some stuff for you guys, A. Naruto didn't 'defeat' the fallen angels. He merely managed to catch them off-guard. It wasn't a fight or even an altercation. Just a bit of quick thinking on Naruto's part.**_

 _ **B. Naruto didn't kill Vali because he isn't a cold-hearted murderous paranoid psychopath. Maybe if this was Hokage Naruto I would be a bit more understanding to people complaining about Naruto not killing Vali. But this isn't that Naruto. He may have gone through war but he isn't that emotionally damaged or scarred to kill a teenager that isn't any threat to him.**_

 _ **C. I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Thats about all. Review with any concerns, comments, questions, etc, etc.**_

 _ **D. DIVING INTO MAIN PLOT SOON! NarutoXKoneko fluff next chapter.**_

 _ **Did I mention that we have broken 4000 followers? I must have forgotten to mention it due to how excited I am. Thank you all so much! Just like my other story, anyone that private messages me will get a uniquely written Thank You message from myself.**_


	17. Chapter 17

_**AN: Warning, while this chapter definitely pushes the plot of the story further forward, there is a bunch of fluff. So if you find yourself allergic to fluff, feel free to skip over those parts. Enjoy the chapter!**_

* * *

"Bring them in." Michael's voice resonated throughout his massive office. The angel standing by the entrance gave the seraph a simple nod before opening the doors to the office.

In came walking two females. By any standards, the two young girls could be considered beautiful and the clothes they wore only accented that fact. Their attire consisted of black, skin-tight unitard that stopped right at thigh level. They both wore fingerless glove that extended almost the entire length of their arms.

The more sedate of the duo had chin-length blue hair that clashed beautifully with her bright, yellow eyes. The girl's stature was upright and stiff as a white, hooded cloak hung from her shoulder. Strapped to her back was a massive broadsword that had a blue blade and a golden edge.

The other girl seemed to be her polar opposite of her partner. She had dark, chestnut colored hair that was styled in twintails and flowed down her whole back. Her posture was relaxed and carefree as a small smile was plastered across her face. Strapped to her waist was a simple long sword that shone brightly in the well-lit room.

"Irina and Xenovia. It is very nice to see you both again. I hope that you two are doing well." Michael started off the conversation in a friendly manner. He knew exactly the gravity of the mission he was about to assign the duo and felt that it was best to ease them into the situation.

Xenovia responded with a simple nod of her head, her respect for man stopping her from giving a verbal response. Since birth, she had been trained under the teaching of exorcists, religious figureheads and angels. The level of respect and admiration she held for Michael and the other angels was unfathomable.

Irina, on the other hand, had no qualms in verbally responding to the man. Similar to Xenovia, she had grown up under a very strict christian background. Since birth, she had been taught about respecting the lord and his followers. She just had a hard time restraining herself at times. She was the very definition of a devout christian. Anyone who mocked her religion faced her wrath.

"I'm doing fantastic, Michael-Sama! I always love coming to Heaven. Everyone here is just so nice and the air is fresh and everything is amazing." The girl spouted out, earning a slight chuckle from the Seraph and his standing guard. Xenovia didn't seem to find the behavior as fun as an annoyed look crossed the young woman's face. She managed to hold back in reprimanding her partner since she was in the presence of one of her idols. She would just wait until later.

"That's good to hear. I'm glad that you two are doing so well. It warms my heart that two of our best exorcist are continuing to excel out in the field." In all honesty, Michael almost felt bad at the happy feelings washing out from the two girls. He honestly hated having to manipulate the two like this but it had to be done.

"Now I bet you two have been wondering why exactly I called you up here. Most people don't get the privilege of stepping foot in any part of Heaven after all." Michael gave a deliberate pause in order to set the gravity of the situation. The pause was purposeful and its purpose was to emphasize the privilege the girls had been given. Receiving some type of special privilege from one of their idols would undoubtedly make the duo ecstatic.

Just as Michael assumed, a wave of excitement coursed through the church duo. Up until this point, they hadn't fully taken in the fact that they had an audience that consisted of one of God's children. And this very same man was complimenting them.

"Now I'm going to be frank with you girls. I know that you are aware of the recent theft of the excalibur fragments. Up until recently, we weren't sure of the culprit and their location but we have finally managed to track him down. The culprit is a former brother of mine named Kokabiel." The named dropped by the Seraph elicited a gasp from both of the girls.

Everyone who read the bible knew who Kokabiel was. One of God's earlier creations, the angel had vast potential in his youth. He was spirited, vivacious and motivated as a child. He could always be found tailing one of the archangels in hopes of receiving lessons from them.

All of that changed before the Great War. No one was certain how or why but the angel fell to his sins. One day he had been amongst the greatest in God's youthful ranks and the next day his wings had turned pitch black as he succumbed to his sins.

Kokabiel had been a major figure for the fallen angel's during the Great War. The youthful man had turned to a bloodthirsty psychopath on the battlefield. The fallen angel loved war. He practically bathed in the blood of his enemies during battle. Even his own comrades seemed to be frightened of him at times.

The fallen angel seemed to have fallen out of relevancy once the Great War ended. To hear that he was the person who had been taking the sword fragments was fairly alarming.

"Kokabiel has stolen three of the seven remaining fragments of Excalibur. We have managed to locate his current base of operation in Kuoh. Kuoh is a devil controlled territory which is the only reason we aren't sending a much larger force there. Instead, we are sending you two to infiltrate Kuoh, retrieve the Excalibur fragments and, if possible, find some way to sabotage any Kokabiel may have in store. We believe he is working outside the realm of Azazel's orders but if you manage to discover otherwise, please make sure to collect evidence as such." Michael finished. The man's joyful tone had quickly faded away during his assignment of the mission. The two girls in front of him seem to pick up on the mood as even Irina straightened up and seemed to be paying more attention.

"There is also another issue in Kuoh I need you two to attend to." The girls perked up as Michael continued his speech. "There is an entity there that has caught our attention. Here is a picture of him and his … base." Michael opened up on the drawers to his desk and took out two pictures. He handed each girl a single picture and allowed them time to view it.

"He's cute/Is this a candy shop?" Were the varying reactions from the duo. Behind them, Michael's guard released a short chuckle but was quickly silenced by a sharp glance from the Seraph.

"To answer your question, yes that is a candy shop. The boy in the picture is the owner and the target in question. For right now, I simply wish for you two to observe them during your mission. He is extremely dangerous. For your own safety, do not engage in any manner and for the love of our lord, do not let him know I sent you." Michael said, earning him another set of nods from the girl. A sigh of relief left the man's mouth as his happy disposition seemed to return to him.

"Good! That is all girls. I wish you both the best of luck and await your return. God bless both of you." Michael cheerfully said. A wide smile popped up on Irina's face and even Xenovia had a small smile on her face at the man's cheery nature. They both offered him a low bow before being led out of the office.

"Do you think it was wise to send them into devil territory?" Michael released a small sigh before spinning in his seat. Standing behind him was a smiling Gabriel who looked as beautiful and elegant as ever.

"Do you always eavesdrop in my meetings?" The man asked his sister. She offered her brother a nonchalant shrug before walking forward and taking a seat on his desk, earning her a mock glare from him. She waved off the look before prompting him to continue to talk.

"Meh. Just answer the question." Michael rolled his eyes at the immature response before slumping down into his seat.

"Do I think it was wise? No. Not really. Was it necessary? Absolutely. I'm not stupid. I know exactly what Kokabiel is doing. He has no need for Excalibur. He is simply attempting to goad me into responding harshly which would incite war. Sending those two is the best way to deal with this situation." Michael commented as Gabriel childishly swung her legs back and forth. The woman released a small hum before swinging her legs onto her brother desks, knocking off a multitude of papers and earning herself another glare from the man.

"What about telling them to spy on our little friend?" Gabriel asked. Michael quickly lifted the woman's legs from off his desk before responding.

"I didn't tell anyone to spy on anyone. I simply told them to keep an eye on him." Michael's response earned him an incredulous look from his sister which he promptly ignored.

"You're a terrible liar, Michael."

"You're a terrible everything, Gabriel."

* * *

"If you put that dress near me one more time, I promise I'll rip it to shreds." Koneko's low and levelled voice carried through the entirety of the club room. The young girl was sat in her usual place on the couch and sat right beside was her King who had a yellow sundress in her hands.

"But you're going on a date. Don't you want to look nice?" Rias questioned while dangling the sundress in what the redhead assumed to be an enticing manner. The sundress was quickly torn away from her grip, eliciting a yelp from the redhead. The Gremory had to watch as the sundress was shred to pieces by the rook's claws. The dress was promptly thrown back in the older girl's face much to the amusement of the other devils in the room.

"If Koneko doesn't want to dress up for her date, I think we should respect her decision, Rias-Sama." Akeno commented from her position across the room. The girl's words were lost on her King since all of Rias' attention was focused on the torn dress.

"This dress cost me so much money and she just ripped it up." The girl muttered while holding the remnants of the sundress. Koneko shook her head at the girl's over dramatic behavior while pushing herself off the couch.

"Where are you headed, Koneko-san?" Kiba asked from his position in the corner of the room as Koneko walked to the door of the club room. From the corner of his eye, he could see Issei slowly making his over to Rias in order to comfort the girl.

"My date." Were the girl's parting words as the door slammed behind her. Kiba offered her a small nod before redirecting his attention back on his King. The girl was still knelt on the couch while Issei was now sat beside her while awkwardly attempting to comfort her. The boy's attempts were obviously failing if the girl's far-off look and mumbling were anything to go by.

"I did so much begging to my brother … The things I had to say." Were some of the few words that were coming from the girl's mouth. Kiba shook his head at the girl's over dramatic behavior before pushing himself off the wall he was leaned against. Looks like he would have to fix this issue. Again.

* * *

Night had quickly settled over the town of Kuoh. It was Friday so the weekend, night activities were in full swing. Lights from varying shops, stores and restaurants could be seen from far away.

In one of these restaurants was a rather interesting looking couple. The male looked to be over a foot taller than the female even while they were sat at their table. His cheerful, almost sunny disposition seemed to be stark contrast to the girl's sedated and shy demeanor.

"I don't know why you took me to such a fancy place" Koneko murmured out as she took a glance at her surroundings. To say that the restaurant they were in was expensive would be a massive understatement. One could gauge that just by the attire of the other occupants. Most were dressed in intricate kimonos adorned with different patterns and designs. Waiters dressed in fancy suits ran back and forth while dropping off varying sizes of platters filled with food.

"Well I thought it was time for us to spend some time outside of my shop or the middle of the forest. Plus I heard this place has amazing sushi." Naruto commented while smirking at his girlfriend. Just by her reaction, he could tell the girl was feeling some embarrassment due to their current situation.

The duo stood out immensely from everyone else in the restaurant. Naruto was dressed in a simple, white dress shirt that went well with the black suit pants he had on. Compared to the other males in restaurant, he looked like a delinquent with his wild hair and casual clothes.

Koneko was dressed in her usual school attire and was currently regretting not taking Rias up on her offer for the sundress. At least she wouldn't be getting all these weird looks from the other couples.

"I figured .. I just …" Koneko trailed off as her eyes slid over to Naruto. Unlike herself, the blond seemed to have no problem with their current attire. He had on the same natural, carefree smile that he always seemed to have. The stares the duo were receiving didn't seem to be bothering him one bit.

"Hmm?" Naruto questioned, snapping Koneko out of her thoughts. Her eyes made their way up to Naruto's and saw that there was now a spark of concern in them. Internally, Koneko sighed to herself. Sometime it was hard having a boyfriend that cared so much. It made it hard for her to be mad at him.

"Its nothing." She mumbled while slinking down into her chair. It was unfair that she couldn't be angry at him

"Excuse me sir and ma'am." Both Naruto and Koneko looked up and saw a waiter standing at the edge of their table with a tray of food in hand. A look of confusion crossed Koneko's face as she realized that they have never ordered. Naruto, on the other hand, was attempting to hold in a chuckle at the adorably confused plastered across his girlfriend's face.

"You can set it down. Thank you." Naruto said, prompting the waiter to give a short bow of his head before setting down the tray. Now that the food was on table, Koneko was able to get a good look at it. And boy did it look delicious.

Row upon row of sushi sat in front of the young girl. Everything from tempura rolls to sashimi to dragon rolls were sat neatly in front of her with a large bowl of soy sauce placed gingerly to the side. A single pair of chopsticks were wrapped neatly and placed in front of a smug Naruto.

"So … much … All of these are my favorites." Koneko mumbled as her eyes glided over the enormous amount of seafood in front of her. She couldn't spot a single dish that she hadn't tasted before and absolutely loved.

The devil was snapped out of her trance by the sound of chopsticks breaking apart. She tore her eyes away from the sushi in order to look up at Naruto who was holding the only set of the wooden utensils. Just then, the realization that there was only one pair of chopsticks struck Koneko.

"Why is there only one set?" Koneko questioned as Naruto reached down with the chopsticks and picked up a particularly tasty looking tempura roll.

"I'm going to feed you, of course! I spent all day tasting and sampling sweets. I don't really need to eat. Now open up." Naruto said while moving the piece of sushi towards Koneko's mouth. She immediately moved her backwards while looking around the restaurant once again in order to see if anyone was watching the exchange.

"I … I can feed myself though." She said as blood rushed to her cheeks. In all honesty, she absolutely loved being fed by the blond. It was one of her favorite daily activities. But, with them being in this restaurant surrounded by other couples, she wasn't really up to it right now.

Naruto rolled his eyes at the girl's reluctance before abruptly standing up from his seat, catching the attention of several people around them. The blond made his way around the table to Koneko's side before taking the seat next to her, his hand still holding onto the chopstick with the sushi.

"I know that you can feed yourself but do you really want to feed yourself?" Naruto asked while enticingly dangling the piece of sushi in front of the girl's face. Koneko's eyes instinctively locked onto the seafood as drool started to pool in her mouth. Unconsciously, her head began to slowly move towards the sushi. Just as her mouth was inches away from the chopsticks, Koneko seemed to snap out of her trance as she quickly moved back from Naruto and the sushi.

"There are people around." She mumbled to herself as she lowered her head. The girl was forced to look back up as Naruto gently took hold of her chin and turned her head upwards. Her eyes met with Naruto's.

"If you think I really care about these people around us then you are very wrong. I like feeding my girlfriend food and my girlfriend likes it when I feed her food so I'm going to feed her food no matter what other people think about it, believe it!" Naruto's loud outburst caught the attention of everyone around them. The blond didn't seem to care much as his eyes stayed locked onto Koneko.

"Now, are we going to sit here and have an awkward date because of other people or are you going to open your mouth so I can gently shove sushi in it?" The blond asked with the utmost seriousness in his voice even with the ridiculousness of what he just said. The boy's voice was loud enough for others to hear it as well as the couple was receiving even more crazy looks. None of this seemed to bother Naruto whatsoever as his eyes stayed solely locked onto Koneko.

"Well?" Naruto asked again when he received no answer from the shocked girl. The boy's second question seemed to snap Koneko out of her slight daze as she began to take notice of all the looks the two were receiving. Her eyes eventually made their way back to Naruto and the piece of sushi as the blond awaited her answer.

The teen received his answer in the form of Koneko slowly opening her mouth, much to the blond's joy. He slowly glided the piece of sushi into the girl's mouth and allowed her to consume the food. He happily retracted the chopsticks from the girl's mouth before quickly picking up another piece of sushi.

"Are you going to do this for every piece?" Koneko mumbled before opening her mouth once again, giving Naruto the opportunity to slip another piece of seafood into the girl's mouth. Inwardly, the devil wanted to feel some type of agitation at her boyfriend's stubbornness. Not only had he completely ignored her protests, he had also forcibly fed her food. But could she truly be angry when he was being so sweet?

Her taste buds and the warm feeling in her chest were currently telling her that the answer to that question was no. And with each piece of sushi, she was finding it harder and harder to go against them.

"Yes I am. So you can either suck it up and freely enjoy the nice food or I could tie you to a chair and make you enjoy the nice food. Your choice." Naruto casually said while offering Koneko another piece of food. The girl's eyes traveled in between the sushi and the blond before she choose the obviously better decision and opened her mouth. Naruto seemed happy to slide yet another piece of food into her mouth before allowing her time to eat it.

Seemed like tonight was going to be a long night.

* * *

"I can't believe you got us kicked out." Koneko commented as Naruto and her made their way down an empty Kuoh street while holding hands. It was now much later in the night and the streets were completely deserted. The only light being provided were several dim street lights.

"It wasn't my fault! What type of place doesn't allow couples to share plates? I spent all day working and I'm not allowed to have one piece of the sushi that I bought? Thats ridiculous. That waiter better be happy I didn't rasengan his ass for being so rude." The teen grumbled out. Only five minutes prior, the duo had been merrily sat in the restaurant with Koneko happily munching away on sushi. The girl had very quickly gotten over the initial embarrassment of being fed in front of a bunch of strangers and was simply enjoying the food. She had actually managed to convince Naruto to take a piece for himself since the guilt of just eating all of the food was starting to eat away at her. Unfortunately for the two, a pesky waiter seemed to have been keeping a very close eye on the two and swooped in to remind Naruto of the restaurants "No sharing" policy. Being the person he was, Naruto didn't take the warning so well. In fact, he had taken it the exact opposite.

After much arguing, yelling and sushi throwing, Naruto and Koneko had escorted themselves out of the place. That process consisted of Naruto picking Koneko up, throwing the girl over his shoulder, yelling "I make candy sushi that tastes better than his crap" before charging out of the restaurant

"Uptight assholes. Can't share food my ass. I'll share as much food as I want." The blond grumbled beneath his breath as he continued to stomp his way down the street while holding Koneko's hand. The blond was so wrapped up in his frustration that he missed Koneko attempting to hold back a smirk at his behavior.

"I'm going to make it my goal to put those bastards out of business. They will re-" Naruto was interrupted in his ranting when he felt a sharp tug on his hand. He looked down at Koneko and saw that the devil was now sending him a rather expectant look. It didn't take him long to get the meaning behind the look as he quickly released her hand and prepared himself.

Not even a second later, he felt Koneko land against his back. His arms instinctively went back and found their way around the girl's thigh, securing her in place. He could already feel the girl snuggling into his back as he continued his journey down the street.

"Stop worrying about stupid restaurants and walk me home." Koneko's muffled voice came from behind him. Even though she couldn't see it, the Nekoshou got a roll of the eyes in response.

"Can I at least get a please?" Naruto sarcastically asked. The blond was taken off guard when he felt something lightly wrap around waist. He felt Koneko's grip on his body tighten as a light purr began to emit from the girl.

"Naru-kun, can you please take me home. I'm too tired to walk. You tired me out today" Koneko's voice had taken on a deceptively deeper tone as she tried her very best to imitate a tired voice in order to fluster the boy. The usage of her tail was just a backup in case Naruto didn't fall for it.

Going by the sudden stiffening and sputtering coming from the shinobi, the girl's strategy seemed to walk. A smug smirk made its way to her face as she imagined the blush and thoughts running through the blond's head.

"What happened to me quiet and shy Koneko who used to ask for piggyback rides and not making me blush?" Naruto mumbled in mock frustration. Koneko softly giggled at the blond's comment before wrapping her tail tighter around his waist.

"Your personality started to rub off on her. Now stop complaining and take me home." Naruto released a mock grumble at the girl's response before tightening his grip on her thighs and picking up his pace.

He had created a monster and now he had to deal with it.

* * *

"Looks like Heracles has finally returned, Cao." A pair of light green eyes lazily fluttered open as the announcement rung throughout the room.

The room in question was rather spartan-esque in designs. The walls were painted a dark black and was surrounding in red trimmings. Hung up on the walls were a few different paintings that depicted different landscapes. Sat directly in the center of the room was a medium sized desk that was currently being occupied.

The man occupying the desk could best be described as a handsome youth with short black hair. He was dressed in button down shirt that was reminiscent of Chinese school attire. Around his waist, an intricate jacket was secured by a large black belt. One hand was holding up the man's head while the other's fingers were steadily drumming on the table.

"Oh really? Ophis must of grown tired of him. Tell him he can come in, Georg." Cao Cao said as he sat upright in his chair. Several weeks ago, the dragon god had suddenly requested to "borrow" the greek descendant. The tone of the message made it clear that there would be no compromising with the dragon so Cao ordered Heracles off. He honestly didn't know nor cared what the girl wanted with the man.

Georg gave his partner a small nod before pushing open the doors of the office. The sight that greeted the two men actually managed to take them off guard.

Standing in the frame of the door was an obviously damaged Heracles. The man looked to be on his last leg. Every single one of his veins were visible and seemed to be pulsating with a sickly, grey light. Parts of his body was covered in cuts and bruises that were caked in dirt. The man's usual clothing was gone and was replaced with a shirt and a pair of pants that looked several sizes too small for him. His signature club was nowhere in sight.

"You're looking worse for wear." Cao commented as the greek hobbled into the room. The man didn't seem to be too amused by the comment as he shot a glare at the faction leader.

"Shut your damn mouth, Cao. You have no idea what type of hell that bitch of a dragon has put me through." Hercules growled out as he stood in front of the desk. Cao raised a single eyebrow at the man's outburst before leaning back into his chair.

"Feel free to try and explain your plight to me. I'm all ears." Cao said, prompting Hercules to start the retelling of his experiences.

Cao listened intently as the man explained Ophis 'poisoning him' with her powers. That part had been rather interesting to him considering what he had planned for the dragon. To hear that the god's powers were poisonous to the man was slightly worrying but he was sure he would find a way around that.

Another thing that interested the man was the blond that Hercules had been tasked with defeating. The Greek had been rather bitter during his retelling of his battles with the shinobi. From what Cao could gleam from the man's recounting, the battles had been rather one-sided and embarrassing. But the part that had caught his attention was the Greek's persistence that the boy he faced was human.

"I'm telling you he was a human. I didn't sense a single ounce of supernatural energy coming from him during our fights. I wouldn't lose to some mythical freak." Hercules insisted as he attempted to save the last remnants of his pride. In front of him, Cao sat silently laid back in his chair, seemingly taking in everything that had been said.

"This … is all rather interesting. Go get yourself patched up. I'll deal with Ophis." Hercules didn't even bother to respond to the man as he promptly turned and left the office. Georg closed the door as the soon as the man went stomping by before turning to gauge the man's reaction.

"Well?" Georg articulated after several moments of silence. Very slowly, a grin began to work its way onto the man's face as he stood from his desk.

"Well, it looks like we have another piece added to our chess game. Time to see if he is playing for our side or the other."

* * *

 _ **AN: Hello! I hope that you have enjoyed the chapter! Yes, yet another faction has heard about Naruto and Kokabiel is about to make his grand appearance! So many wonderful things to write about next chapter.**_

 _ **Hopefully for those of you who enjoy fluff, this chapter satisfied your hunger for it a bit. For those battle hungry folks out there, the next couple of chapters are just for you. Anyways, review or pm me with any questions, concerns, comments, suggestions, etc. Peace!**_


	18. Chapter 18

"Is this information accurate?" A guttural voice sounded out from within the dark confines of the chamber. To say the room was pitch black would be a massive understatement. Not a single photon of light seemed to be able to find its way into the room. Yet its two occupants seemed to have no trouble conversing in it.

"Yes. The two have been spotted along the outskirts of Kuoh. We've had several of our agents tracking them but they seem to alone. Our sco-" The second voice was quickly silenced as wet squelching noise filled the air. The squelching turned into a wet gurgling sound as a loud thump quickly accompanied it. The gurgling continued for close to a full minute before it died away.

"Should've figured he wouldn't fall for the bait. That man is no idiot." The remaining voice spoke as a soft, creaking sound filled the dark chamber. The slow sound of footsteps echoed throughout the room as a small amount of light began to seep into the room.

"Well, if he won't start a war, I'll be happy to start one for him. And I'll start by showing Sirzechs and Michael just how powerful the fallen angel's have become." The voice proclaimed as the light grew stronger and stronger. The light finally grew strong enough for the owner of the voice to be revealed.

The man had a sickly pale tone that almost seemed to glow in the dim light that had seeped into the room. He possessed long, silky black hair that flowed down and past his shoulders. His red eyes and pointy ears gave him a very impish appearance. Five pairs of black wings extended from his shoulder blades.

The light that had crept into the room also revealed what exactly had happened to the owner of the other voice. The man could be seen collapsed onto his knees on the ground. His hands were up to his neck as the pained expression that was now eternally etched on his face spoke of the pain he felt during his last living moments. A large size hole that was slowly leaking minutes amount of blood seemed to be the cause of the man's death and suffering.

"If Azazel refuses to abide by my plans then so be it. I will carry them out myself. Both the Gremory and Sitri are mistaken if they think their children are protected within this city. I will show just how dangerous the fallen can be." The man commented before allowing his wings to stretch out behind him.

"Tell Galilei and Freed to prepare their holy swords. We have devils to slay." The man seemingly said to no one. Obviously someone must've been listening as the sound of wings quickly followed the man's words. With his order seemingly being taken care of, the fallen angel gave one last long at the corpse at his feet before a large, light spear appeared within his hand. With a single flick of his wrist, the spear buried into the the man's chest, completely incinerating the body on contact.

"Trash. I don't need weaklings by my side in this war."

* * *

"Vali! I need you to clean up that mess by table six!" Naruto's cheerful voice rang throughout the shop. Standing by the counter, one Vali Lucifer let out an agitated sigh before grabbing the mop leaning against the wall next to him.

Anyone that knew Vali and what exactly he had been through in the past two weeks would be interested why exactly he was back in Naruto's shop. After the blond soundly beat him into the ground and then interrogated, one would expect him to stay as far away as possible from him and his shop. But instead, we find him with an apron wrapped around his waist and a mop in his hand.

To be completely honest, the devil had no wish to be here. His pride had been wounded by his defeat and being close to the person that handed it to him definitely wasn't helping the healing process. But unfortunately, he didn't really have many options at this point.

Azazel had … cut him off. As much as it pained for the teen to admit it, his source of resources solely relied on the fallen angel up until a week ago. When he had returned to the Grigori headquarters after his defeat, he had stormed to Azazel's office to vent his frustrations. His venting was greeted with the mocking laughter of the fallen angel general, much to the devil's frustration.

It was when he was a step away from storming out of the man's office due to his anger did Azazel reveal to him his retraction of the Grigori's funds. The fallen angel's excuse had been that he wanted the devil to learn "responsibility and initiative" from working a real job. The devil had tried to argue against the man but Azazel's stubbornness wouldn't allow it..

So with all the resentment in the world, he had to drag himself back to the stupid blond's shop and ask for his job back. The shinobi had seemed almost too exuberant when he welcomed him back by handing him an apron and a mop. When asked why exactly he needed an apron when wouldn't even be working on the food, Naruto gave him a response in a small shrug and a smile.

"Vali! The ice cream is starting to melt on the floor. Melted ice cream doesn't smell good when you let it sit for awhile. Get to it." The devil was snapped out of his thoughts by the joy filled voice of his boss. Internally, he had to hold back his urge to blow the blond and the shop off the face of the planet before eventually making his way over towards the spilled ice cream and the apologetic looking couple.

From behind the counter, Naruto was trying his best to hold back his laughter at the barely muted mumbling of his only employ. Ever since the boy had come back to work for him, his favorite activity had been to annoy the devil every single day. He had no idea why but the boy's responses were just too funny to him.

"It's probably because you've suffered so much from being the butt of every joke back in the old world." Kurama commented thus ending Naruto's good mood. The blond's smile slipped from his face as his shoulders slumped.

"You always manage to ruin my good moods." Naruto thought to his partner before instantly straightening up as two more people entered the shop.

* * *

"Xenovia, I don't think actually going into the shop is a good idea." Inwardly, Irina was cursing herself for allowing the situation to even get this far. It was because of her inability to combat the stubbornness of her partner that their mission could be coming to a quick close.

The two exorcists were currently standing by the entrance of Naruto's shop, dressed in their usual attire. To say that they stood out amongst the other sidewalk occupants would be a massive understatement. Out in public, Irina was starting to become very aware of the spandex that made up her battle suit.

Xenovia, on the other hand, didn't seem to have any of the reprehensions that her partner had. The girl stood confidently outside of Naruto's ship, her cloak hanging loosely from her shoulders while her hand rested on the cloth wrapping surrounding her sword.

"Nonsense. How do you expect us to observe our target if he is not within our sights?" The stubborn exorcist commented while taking a glance within the shop window. Within the building, their blond target seemed to shouting orders to the only other employee within the shop. The boy receiving the orders didn't seem to be enjoying it if his annoyed expression was anything to go by.

"Why don't we go attempt to find Kokabiel's hideout again and come back before closing time to tail him home?" Irina suggested. This had been the duo's fifth day with Kuoh and they had been having absolutely no luck in finding the fallen angel's base. This brought a lot of frustration to the headstrong and determined Xenovia. She had suggested scouting out their second target's location in order to take a break from finding the fallen angel. Irina had agreed, assuming that the duo would just find some relaxing spot and camp out. That illusion was shattered as she was literally dragged to the shop by her partner. It was only at the front of the shop that she was able to stop Xenovia and herself.

"We've been searching for that wretch for the past five days. I need a break from tracking his horrid stench." The girl commented while staring into the interior of the shop. Beside her, Irina had to hold in a sigh as her partner's behavior started to attract the attention of some of the other sidewalk goers.

"But … going in would take away the element of surprise. Plus Michael-Sama said we shouldn't let him know that we weren't sent." Irina desperately responded. Once again, her suggestion was denied.

"Nonsense! Stealth is within our blood. He won't even notice our presence. Now, let us stop this pointless conversation. Our target could be plotting against us this very moment." Xenovia stated before making her way through the shop's door. Irina stared at the retreating form of her partner for several seconds before sighing and following her in.

* * *

"They stand out so much." Naruto thought to himself as the two girls made their way to a corner table. Their outfits were very revealing and attracted the attention of almost everyone in the shop. The blue-haired girl's billowing cape and oversized clothed sword definitely didn't help keep away the stares. The blonde one seemed to be aware of the stares and was trying her best to avoid the looks. The giant sword wielder seemed completely ignorant of the looks she was gaining as she sat down at a table and proceeded to stare directly at the blond.

" **She's not really that subtle, is she**?" Kurama asked as the girl continued to hold her glare on his container. Naruto nodded in agreement before shrugging and going back to his cooking. The girls weren't bothering him at the moment so he would allow them to stay.

* * *

"Xenovia … please stop staring. He's going to notice us." Irina begged her partner as she held her head down against the table. Immediately after entering the store, Xenovia had stomped her way over to the furthermost table, sat down at a chair and proceeded to stare at their target. The idea of stealth and subtlety were completely lost on the girl. Sometimes she cursed the girl's sheltered upbringing. It made her an amazing christian and fighter but terrible at almost everything else.

"You worry too much. Our reconnaissance mission cannot truly be accomplished without careful observation. Our battle suits make us inconspicuous to the average human's eyes as well. We have nothing to fear." Xenovia commented before redirecting her attention back towards Naruto. To her right, Irina released another groan before slamming her head against the table.

They were going to fail this mission so hard.

* * *

" **Did the wielder of an Excalibur fragment just walk into the candy shop**?" Albion commented as Vali glanced at the duo out the side of his eye. The devil had been mopping away the ice cream mess when the exorcist duo had come walking into the shop. Their outfits were an absolute dead giveaway to their jobs. The giant sword strapped to her side was an even bigger giveaway.

" _I'm pretty sure she just did_." Vali thought back to his partner as he kept his eye on the duo. Exorcist and devils had never been the best of friends. The human's abilities to wield swords made them a real bane to devil kind. If the duo discovered that he was a devil, he was sure it was going to cause a problem. Luckily, they didn't seem to have noticed him yet.

" **Yeah, it would be such an issue if the two exorcist interrupted your diligent mopping**." Albion comment was literally dripping in sarcasm. Vali momentarily froze in his mopping as his grip on the mop increased enough to actually splinter the wood. The splintering continued for several seconds before Vali took in a deep breath and continued mopping.

" _Please don't make the situation worse than it already is. I'm pretty sure my 'boss' is already attempting to make each day of my job worse than the day before_."

" **What type of partner would I be if I didn't add to your misery? Also, warning. Your boss is walking towards the two exorcists**." Vali's eyes zipped over to the shop's counter and saw that his partner was indeed correct as his boss had walked out from behind it.

" _What is this idiot up to now_?" Vali thought to himself as he began to subtly prepare himself for a fight. Knowing how the blond could annoy the life out of people, a fight wasn't too bad of an outcome.

"Oh my lord, he's making his way over here. I told you that we shouldn't of came here. I knew we were going to get caught. Michael-Sama is going to be so mad. We should just run for it while we can." Irina frantically whispered as her eyes caught sight of Naruto making his way towards the duo. Earlier, it had seemed that the blond had no interest in the duo but all of a sudden he had seemed to focus all of his attention on them. Irina wanted to get up and run away immediately but once again, Xenovia had different plans.

"Calm yourself. Your paranoia is getting the best of you. He is merely walking in this general dir-" The girl was forced to cut herself off as Naruto placed himself on a direct path towards their table. By her side, Irina let out a loud groan as the blond continued to close the distance separating the two groups.

"Xenovia, he's walking right towards us. We have to leave. Michael-Sama told us to not engage in ANY MANNER and he's walking right towards us." The girl's franticism only seemed to increase as Naruto grew closer and closer. By her side, Xenovia's eyes were filled with uncertainty as they stared directly into Naruto's. The two had locked eyes only seconds ago yet the stare felt like it lasted an eternity. The power behind his cerulean pair of eyes captivated her attention yet set every single nerve in her body on high alert. She wanted to get lost within those twin pools while also wanting to get as far away as possible from him.

"I … He…" The exorcist was so engrossed in her stare that she couldn't even articulate her thoughts. She began to shake as the confliction in her body made her hesitate between grabbing her sword and swinging it at their approaching target or jumping head first through a window and returning to heaven with her tail tucked between her legs.

Unfortunately for the duo, neither would get the chance to act as Naruto finally arrived at their table. The whole entire shop seemed to descend in silence as the two groups stared at one another. Xenovia's shaking had increased even more as the urge to run increased within her yet her body refused to act.

" **They look like they're about to piss themselves**." Naruto couldn't help but agree as he stared at the two girls. The blue-haired one had her hand on the handle of the sword and looked struck between wanting to cut his head off or take off running. The blonde one refused to even meet his eyes as if he was Lucifer himself.

" **They reek of that energy that was rolling off of that "angel" you encountered a couple of weeks ago. Most likely they were sent to keep an eye on you. They're doing an absolute horrible job at being stealthy**." Kurama commented as Naruto held his gaze on the two girls. The duo had completely froze at this point, seemingly waiting on him to make the first move. And make the first move he did.

"Hi! You girls have been sitting here for awhile and looked a bit hungry. Can I get you anything?" Naruto used his patent 'hospitable' shop owner voice to speak with the duo. To say that his greeting caught them off-guard would be a massive understatement. The shock was palpable on the duo's face. All the fear and anxiety that had built up within the exorcists had instantly faded away at the sound of Naruto's voice.

"...What?" Was the only word Irina could articulate in the moment. Just moments ago, she was afraid that this man was going to attempt to rip their heads off. Now he was offering them snacks. What the hell was going on?

"I'm the owner of the shop, y'know. I would sort of look bad if I didn't offer you girls something. I'm pretty sure there's something on the menu that you girls would find tasty." Naruto's face took on a bashful look as he began to rub the back of his head. His statement was once again met with owlish stares from the duo, much to his own amusement.

Meanwhile in Xenovia's head, a fierce debate was taking place. The urge to fight or flight had departed her and now the only thing left in its place was confusion. The impression she had gotten from Michael was that the person they were spying on was a threat. Now, she could admit that she had made a rather stupid and headstrong mistake by charging headfirst into his territory but this was definitely not the response she was expecting from an individual dangerous enough to draw the attention of someone like Michael.

" _He must be attempting to lure us into safety with his words before poisoning us. Michael-Sama warned us that he was dangerous. It is my mistake for falling into his den but I refuse to be trapped by him. I must defend! I will not let his sweet tone seduce my thoughts_." Xenovia's value system seemed to kick back in as her expression hardened on Naruto. The blond was caught off guard as the girl began to slowly draw her sword from its scabbard.

Both Irina and Naruto immediately took notice of the action and luckily for the occupants of the restaurant, Irina was the first to act. The girl threw herself across Xenovia's body and slammed her hand down on the pommel of Xenovia's sword, slamming the weapon back down into its scabbard.

"What in the lord's name are you doing? Are you trying to get us killed?" Irina half whispered and half yelled as she glanced between her partner and the curious looking Naruto. The teen had taken notice of Xenovia's action and had decided to allow her act to see where the situation was heading. Now while seeing Irina stretched across the table holding the girl back while sending worried glances at him, he was pretty happy about his decision.

"Do not let his words fool you. He only wishes to end us. You heard Michael-Sama, he is dangerous. I would be doing Heaven a favor by ending him." Xenovia half whispered and half yelled right back at her partner. The girl was straining against Irina in order to draw her sword while her eyes stayed focused in a glare on Naruto. Meanwhile, the blond was casually standing in front of the struggling duo with a single eyebrow raised at their actions.

"Shut up before you get us both killed, you idiot!" Irina harshly whispered back as she kept glancing in between her partner and the blond. Xenovia released a growl before shoving her shoulder into her partner, throwing her fellow exorcist away from her as she stood from her seat, drew her sword and levelled the weapon at the blond.

"I will smite thee!" Xenovia yelled as she stood with her sword pointed at Naruto's chest. By this point, everyone in their shop had their full attention on the altercation going on between the three. Irina was still sat in her seat, her eyes filled with shock and alarm as the situation seemed to spiral farther and farther out of hand.

Naruto, on the other hand, looked as casual as ever as he gazed between the sword pointed at his chest and the exorcist. A small smile made its way to the boy's face as he reached behind his back to untie his apron.

"Fine. I'll give you the chance to 'smite' me. But let's take this outside. I'm sure you don't want any of these innocent people getting in the way of your 'smiting'. Follow me out back." Naruto said as he finished untying the smock. The boy twisted his body slightly before throwing the apron towards Vali. The garment hit the devil square in the face just as Naruto turned back to face the duo.

"Vali, take care of the shop for a bit. I have to take care of some business . These girls got me all fired up!" The blond's voice was cheerful as he bounded through the front entrance of his own shop. Xenovia showed no hesitation as she charged after the shinobi with her sword swinging wildly by her side. Irina sat stock still in her seat for several seconds, her mind being too shocked to even comprehend what had just happened. But, as if she had been flipped to auto-pilot, she eventually climbed to her feet and followed after her partner and their target, leaving behind a shock full of confused customers and a pissed off Vali.

"That idiot thought wrong if he thinks I'm just going to sit here like a dumbass while he is out there fighting." The devil angrily mumbled to himself as he ripped off his own smock, threw it to the ground and went charging after Naruto.

* * *

"Silence your mouth!" Xenovia screamed as she brought her sword down upon Naruto. Unfortunately, similarly to what had been occurring for the past five minutes, the shinobi side stepped the girl's swing and allowed the sword to slam into the ground. As soon as the sword made contact with the earth, a massive burst of energy emitted from its blade, creating a massive crater.

"That's a real interesting sword you have there. Don't think I've seen anything like it before." Naruto commenting as Xenovia stood keeled over, panting harshly as she attempted to catch a hold of her breath. She had been on the offensive for the past five minutes yet had made absolutely no progress. The blond was terrifyingly quick. It was either that or the boy's reflexes had evolved to such a degree that the amount of time that he was given to react allowed for a lapse in his speed. Either way, she couldn't hit the blond if her life was dependent on it and it had begun to frustrate her.

Irina stood on the rim of the clearing the duo was occupying, her eyes filled with a minute amount of concern for her partner and a huge amount of concern for the status of their mission. They had directly engaged with one of their targets, verbally and now physically, which directly went against Michael's orders. For all they knew, the blond could be working with Kokabiel and their interactions with him could ruin their whole operation.

" _Why didn't I just stop her_?" Irina thought to herself as her focus returned to her partner and the blond. Usually, she would have more concern for her fellow exorcist but it became clear to her within the first minute of the fight that she had no reason to worry. Shoot, if she had to worry about anything, it was worrying about Xenovia overexerting herself. The blond was quick … deadly quick. The boy seemed to react to Xenovia's movement before the girl could even make the moves. For every overextension the exorcist made, the teen could've struck down the exorcist a hundred different ways. For every slip or fall that befell the exorcist, the blond could have disarmed the girl at least a dozen times. Yet, he did none of that. All he did was dance around the girl's shoddy sword work with a care in the world. It was relieving to know that her partner didn't seem to be in any immediate danger yet she still found it disturbing. For someone who was portrayed as being extremely dangerous, this was not the sort of reaction she had been expecting.

"Quiet your mouth. I will bring God's judgement upon you with my own hands." Xenovia yelled before charging forward at Naruto. The teen casually slipped his hand into the pocket of his pants before pulling out a small kunai, much to Irina's alarm.

Xenovia got within reach of Naruto and swung her blade directly at the teen's neck. The blond raised his kunai in accordance to block the power-backed swing. Sword met kunai and a massive burst of energy travelled through the air as the chakra enhanced metal of Naruto's kunai clashed with the holy energy emitting from the blade of Charlemagne. Unsurprisingly, the holy sword won out as Naruto's kunai shattered as if made from glass. The blond was forced to duck down as Xenovia continued through with the rest of her swing.

" **You should've expected that. The sword had the capability to make giant craters and you think your little blade would hold out against it**?" Kurama commented as his container rolled away from the sword wielder. Xenovia quickly closed the distance between the two and attempted to cut Naruto down during his roll. The blond was too quick, however, as he sprang into the air, narrowly dodging the girl's blade and the burst of power that followed it.

 _"I was thinking that my chakra would've helped me out a bit but obviously it didn't_." Naruto mentally replied as five kunai briefly appeared in his hands before they were sent flying towards Xenovia. From her position on the ground, the exorcist raised her massive blade in front of her and allowed the projectile to bounce harmlessly off of it's surface.

"Your tiny knives are nothing compared to the sword blessed by God's will." Xenovia proclaimed before stabbing the point of her blade into the ground. The earth seemed to ripple and crack as the energy from the sword flowed through it straight towards Naruto. The blond was forced to leap away from the path of the energy lest he be pierced by a spike made from the earth.

"That sword really is something. I don't even want to imagine what someone like Kisame or Zabuza could've done with it in their hands." That was not something the blond wanted to imagine. He was pretty sure he wouldn't be here right now if Zabuza had that sword in hand during his mission to Wave country.

The blond didn't have much time to ponder anymore 'what ifs' as Xenovia appeared in his face once again. The girl thrust the point of her sword at Naruto's midsection, hoping to catch the blond off-guard. This would prove to be her ultimate mistake as Naruto easily dodged the sluggish stab and chopped at the girl's wrist. The strength behind the blond's hit jarred Xenovia's wrist and forced her to relinquish her hold on the sword. The exorcist immediately attempted to reach out and grab it before it fell to the ground but was kicked away by Naruto before she could do so.

"No!" Both Irina and Xenovia yelled as the blue-haired girl was sent flying away from the holy sword. Irina ran from her position at the edge of the clearing and assisted Xenovia back to her feet as both girls kept their eyes on Naruto. The Excalibur fragment had since fallen and landed directly at the blond's feet. The sword's blue blade and golden edge shone brightly in the mid-day's sunlight as Naruto reached down to pick it up. Both Irina and Xenovia tensed as the blond's fingers wrapped around the sword's hilt.

A large pulse of energy emitted from the sword as soon as Naruto came within contact of it. The pulse of energy spread throughout the entirety of the clearing, blowing back and grass and the leaves while also forcing the two exorcist the brace themselves against it. The pulse of energy seemed to spread outwards for mile as the whole city of Kuoh could feel it. Everyone from Kokabiel, who was hidden within the confines of his base, to Koneko, who was suffering through the throes of education, felt the pulse wash over them. The energy coming from it was calming, serene almost. It made even the fallen angel's hate filled heart skip a beat as the calming nature of the energy clashed with his anger.

"Wow.." Irina commented as Naruto rose to his full height with Excalibur Destruction in hand. The aura the blond had held previously seemed to take on a whole new intensity as it literally glowed around him. He seemed almost holy in nature as he lackadaisically swung the blade side from side.

" **Seems that the sword is responding to your Ying-Yang chakra. Whatever energy coming from the sword seems to be similar to it**." Kurama commented as Naruto took several practice swings. The sword was much lighter than what is size depicted it to be. The golden edge of the blade seemed to hum with energy as its hilt melded perfectly with his hand.

" _You think so? I think it's responding to the natural energy. The pulse of energy felt very similar to the purified chakra I've been releasing into the forest_." The blond thoughtfully said to himself as he took his final swing of the sword before resting the blade against his shoulder while looking over at the duo of exorcist. The two were staring at him with clear shock in their eyes. It seemed that they hadn't expected him to be able to actually wield the sword.

" _The sword must be similar to Samehada. Very picky with who wields its. Luckily for me, I'm really hard to turn down_."

" **Except to Sakura**."

" _Shut up, stupid fox_."

* * *

"Someone report to me immediately what that energy was before I remove their head and extract that information myself." To say that Kokabiel was angry would be a vast understatement. The man was absolutely livid. And, of course, the source of this vast feeling of anger was our blond shinobi friend. Unfortunately for the fallen angel's working underneath the warmonger, they didn't know that.

"The energy seemed to have originated from the western half of Kuoh. I think everyone in the city felt it." Kokabiel growled at the information or the general lack of it. Anyone or anything that was strong enough to produce such a large amount of energy was something to be weary of.

"Someone find me what exactly made that energy immediately. I will not keep letting these unknowns stop my plans.

* * *

Koneko had to restrain her nekoshou ears from unveiling themselves as a familiar wave of energy washed over her body. The girl was currently sat in the middle of one of her classes and thus did not have the luxury of being with her club members or her boyfriend where she could actually show her features. Instead, she was stuck within the confines of this classroom.

"I have a feeling that he's behind this somehow." The girl thought to herself as her eyes narrowed. The chances of Naruto somehow being the cause of that burst of energy were extremely large. Action and trouble seemed to revolve naturally around the blond. He was like a magnet to it.

"Koneko-san." The nekoshou was brought out of her thoughts by a soft voice. She turned to her right and saw one of her classmates sat beside her. The student pointed towards the door where Kiba stood with his arm folded across his chest.

"Sorry to interrupt your class, everyone, but Koneko's presence is needed at the moment. Her absence has already been cleared with the student council." The boy's words carried through the silent classroom and the teacher seemed to give no protest as Koneko stood from her desk and exited the class.

"I wonder what trouble you've gotten into this time, Naruto."

* * *

On the outskirts of Kuoh, a certain black-haired human paused as he felt a wave of energy wash over him. The spear strapped loosely to his hip seemed to hum and glow in response to the energy as it dispersed through the air.

A small smirk made its way to the human's face as he resumed his walk, now with much more urgency in his stride.

"I wonder if that's from our new friend. If this is just a taste of the power he possesses, I think we're going to be wonderful friends."

* * *

Back with the trio, Irina had managed to recover from the shock of losing yet another fragment of Excalibur and had drawn her own sword at Naruto.

"I demand you relinquish possession of Excalibur immediately or you shall face the wrath of the church." The blonde screamed as Naruto casually stood at the opposite end of the field. The fear that had previously gripped her heart had increased tenfold as she realized the implications of their actions. Losing yet another piece of the Excalibur would not only weaken the church but would also draw the wrath of Michael onto them. She had to retrieve the fragment.

Naruto raised an eyebrow at the girl's demand for glancing down at the shouldered sword. He glanced back up at the duo of exorcist before glancing back down at the sword. This process continued for several seconds, unknowingly forcing the tension to rise between the trio.

"Okay, I'm not much of a sword guy anyway. Plus I know how you sword wielders can be about your weapons. Keeping this will cause me more harm than anything*." The tension dissipated like smoke as Naruto lifted the sword from his shoulder and sent it flying through the air at the girls. The holy sword embedded in the ground right in front of the exorcists, its previous glow quickly fading as the christian duo stared at it in shock.

"I … I don't understand." Xenovia muttered as she stared at the holy blade. Irina wasn't much better as all she could do was nod in agreement at her partner's observation. Naruto, sensing that the girls weren't talking anytime soon, decided that it was most likely the best time to leave.

"It was fun fighting with you girls. Feel free to stop by the shop anytime. Vali, if I beat you back, I'm docking your pay for the day." And with those words, the blond disappeared from the clearing in a fluster of leaves. A loud series of cursing followed the blond's comment before a blue flash of light briefly appeared within the foliage of a tree only to fade away shortly afterwards, leaving two dazed and confused exorcist in the clearing all alone.

"What in Lord's name just happened?"

"I have absolutely no idea."

* * *

 _ **AN: Have to admit, I'm a bit conflicted about this chapter. I'm not entirely sure how its going to be received. The conflicted feelings mostly comes from Xenovia. In the manga and Anime, she can act a bit idiotic at times and I tried to play off of that in this chapter but I hope I didn't overdo it. Don't worry, she won't be as bad in the future.**_

 _ **Expect to see some Hero faction and fallen angel action next chapter. Hope you all enjoyed. Review or pm me with any questions, concerns, comments, etc. Check out my profile for crap. Have a wonderful rest of the day.**_

 _ **Side note: Anyone that finds themselves angry at the fact that Naruto didn't do more with the Excalibur fragment,just take a look at the character. If you honestly believe Naruto Uzumaki would take and actually use a sword HE TOOK FROM A FEMALE WHO POSES NO THREAT TO HIM, then you are severely mistaken. At least, in my opinion you are.**_

 _ **Side side note: Holy fuck, we have long since broken the 4k followers and with the posting of this chapter, I'm sure that this story will break 4k favorites. I appreciate every single last bit of it. It really pushes me to continue writing. I love every single one of you guys.**_

 _ **Super Edit: Y'know that moment when you accidentally use the wrong sword name and you get a wave of reviews telling you that you used the wrong sword name so you go back and try to change it really quick then you try to PM people saying you changed it but so many people have reviewed in the time it took for you to edit so you just want to cry? Yeah, I just experienced that.**_


	19. Chapter 19

The light filtered through the main window of the living room. The soft sound of birds lively chirping could be heard from within the confines of the room.

Laid on top of the singular coach was one of the last remaining Nekoshous within existence. Her expression was one of serenity as the early morning sun shone onto her blanket covered form. The soft chirps of the birds made her second set of ears twitch slightly as she slept.

The girl managed to keep her calm aura and appearance for several minutes before the chirping of the birds became too much for her unconscious mind to ignore. With slight twitch and a loud groan, Kuroka returned to the land of consciousness. The Nekoshou slowly shrugged off the blankets covering her body as she sat completely upright on the couch. She gave off a loud yawn and she stretched her arms up to the ceilings, filling the room with the sound of bones cracking and setting as she worked out any kinks that had built up in her sleep.

She finished her stretch with a loud sigh before allowing her arms to fall limply by her side. She gave a comedic smack of her lips while looking around the room. Mounds of clothing and food containers could be seen strewn across the floor, giving the room a rather messy appearance.

The mess was entirely caused by her which was a fact that irked her blond housemate/kidnapper while bringing her a large amount of joy. Surprisingly, at least to her, the blond seemed to detest the mess that had managed to build up within the main living area. The empty ramen packets seemed to serve as reminders of the ramen he hadn't gotten the chance to enjoy. The clothes and other miscellaneous junk only served to salt the wound.

He never verbalized his agitation, though. She figured it was partly out of guilt of 'holding her captive'. She used that phrase lightly since her occupation within the Uzumaki household felt far better than being held in captivity. Despite their rather odd and sometimes tumultuous relationship, the blond was an amazing host. He brought her clothes, though she was sure that was only because he got tired of her kimono 'accidentally slipping' throughout the day. He brought home food for her when he could and when he couldn't, he made sure the kitchen was properly stocked. He even held conversations with her when she took a break from teasing him.

All in all, she had enjoyed her stay within Naruto's home. She wished that she could've slept in the same bed as the blond but the couch would do for now. She would just have to wait until she was ready to confront her little sister, heal her relationship with said little sister then convince that little sister to let her share her adorable blond boyfriend.

"Easier said than done." The Nekoshou muttered to herself before standing from the couch. She gave another long stretch of her body before heavily plodding over to the kitchen area of the apartment. She knew that she didn't have to worry about being quiet as her house guest was long gone. He always got up early to either open up the shop or to prepare food for the shop or to order something for the shop.

"Everything he does is either shop or Shirone related, Nya~." The girl mused to herself out loud as she opened the door to the refrigerator. Every single morning, she liked to start the day off with a large glass of milk, courtesy of Naruto, of course. The action always seemed to annoy the blond as he was constantly forced to buy more milk and not actually get a chance to enjoy it.

The girl gave a nonchalant shrug while scanning over the contents of the fridge. Her eyes seemed to light up as they landed on the object of her affection. The spark of excitement instantly turned into one of curiosity as she noticed a small sticky note attached to the carton of milk.

"Hmmm." The girl verbalized as she withdrew the milk along with the note from the fridge. She absentmindedly allowed the door to the kitchen appliance to slam shut behind her as she began to read the note out loud to herself.

"Dear Kuroka, odds are that you haven't noticed the fact that I've removed your collar if you're reading this." The girl instantly checked her neck to confirm. She was surprised to find that the collar that had been restraining her to the confines of Naruto's home was now missing.

"It's been awhile since you first came into my house and tried to kill me. I originally put that collar on you to make sure you wouldn't kill me while I tried to convince you to … not kill me. Probably wasn't the best plan but it was the best I could come up with. I'm not much of a strategist. Anyways, I noticed that you haven't tried to kill me the past couple of weeks and I now trust you enough to let you go. I left some money by the door, hopefully enough to allow you to travel wherever you want. I hope that we can continue being friends and one day we can fix your relationship with Ko-chan. See ya later." The girl finished reading. There was a small smiley face written next to the closing line of the note.

"Nya~" The girl said dejectedly as she continued to stare down at the note. Weirdly, the concept of her freedom didn't bring her the type of joy she had expected. She had truly become comfortable under the blond's care.

"I don't wanna leave.."

* * *

"I can't believe you turned into a devil while I turned out to be an exorcist. That's like the biggest coincidence ever." Irina exclaimed out loud, drawing the attention of the people around her. Beside her, Issei released a bout of nervous laughter before gently grabbing the girl's arm and pulling her away from the crowd.

The childhood friend duo had been reunited when Xenovia and Irina had 'demanded' a meeting with Rias. The exorcist duo had basically threatened the Gremory heiress before demanding that the girl stay out of the situation with Kokabiel while they handled it. The situation quickly devolved into violence, mainly to Kiba's vengeful nature and Xenovia's straightforwardness. Luckily, Irina, along with the help of Rias' Queen, managed to defuse the situation by separating the volatile duo.

After a bit of talking, Xenovia was eventually escorted out of the clubroom while Irina and Issei decided to take some time to 'catch up'. This time consisted of Issei absentmindedly guiding the exorcist around Kuoh while trying his best to keep his eyes away from the skin tight layer of clothing that hid the girl's rather perky assets.

"Yeah … Its pretty wild." The boy took in a silent gulp as he fought the internal battle to stare or not to stare. For someone that was as gifted in the art of perversion like himself, this was a hard fought battle.

"Mew, I'm sorry about what Xenovia said about Asia-san. My partner can get very passionate about our religion." Irina muttered out nervously while glancing at Issei. During their meeting at Rias' clubroom, her partner had said some rather cruel thing about the former holy priestess that had sent the innocent girl into tears. That had just been the final straw to the eventual broken up meeting.

"You don't have to apologize. I actually feel sorry for you having to deal with such a stuck up prick as a partner." The boy started off angrily. Irina said nothing as the low class devil fumed silently over the actions of her partner. His fuming behavior quickly devolved into a more embarrassed one as a small blush covered his cheeks.

"I guess I should also apologize for trying to use dress break on you. I was trying to keep up with you and I may of went a little over the line." The boy mumbled out his apology. Irina's own cheeks lit up in embarrassment as the memories of the boy's technique flew through her mind. The 'attack', if it could even be called one, seemed to instantly strip it's victim of its clothing. She had fortunately managed to dodge getting hit by such an embarrassing move but Asia and Koneko had been unfortunate victims of it.

"Its fine. It was a battle and sometimes in battle, you have to use every advantage you got. I just feel sort of bad for your two … peerage mates." The girl said the last bit hesitantly as she tried to find the best words to describe the other members of Rias' peerage. She didn't want to incur the boy's agitation especially after being reunited so soon.

She glanced back over to the teen to gauge his reaction and was panicked to find that he now seemed to be frozen in place. Her mind instantly went into a frenzy as she blamed her reference to his friends as the cause of his frozen state.

Unknown to the exorcist, Issei's behavior was not the cause of anything she said. If anything, she had only reminded him of why he should be panicking in the first place.

He had stripped Asia and Koneko with his technique. He had seen them completely naked. He had happily soaked in their nude forms. All of this wouldn't have been a problem if the Nekoshou he had seen naked hadn't had a ridiculously powered blond boyfriend who he was sure would tear him limb from limb if … No… when he found out about the incident.

" _Oh god, he's going to kill me. He is going to KILL kill me_." Even the pain that came from thinking the Lord's name couldn't phase the boy's panic. Irina became increasingly worried as the color continued to drain from her friend's face.

"Issei…" She mumbled hesitantly while gently touching his shoulder. The girl's touch seemed to snap the boy out of his daze as he jumped slightly. He looked around wildly, panic clear in his eyes, before his gaze eventually settled upon Irina.

"I-I'm sorry about that, Irina. Got caught up in my thoughts." The boy nervously stuttered out. His explanation was met with confused looks from the exorcist which only caused the devil to release another bout of nervous laughter.

"Just don't worry about it." The boy unexpectedly took the girl's hand into his own and began to drag her down the sidewalk. Irina, completely not expecting the action, could only sit in shock as the devil dragged her away.

* * *

"May I take your order?" The couple standing at the counter couldn't help but feel a bit surprised at the person behind the cash register. The monotonous tone she was using was very off putting and her bored expression definitely did not make her out to be the best at customer service. Nevertheless, she had on a small visor with the store's design on it and also had a small smock wrapped around her waist.

"Well?" The girl's voice snapped the male and female duo out of their momentary shock. The two gave each other a quick glance before the male of the two stepped towards the counter.

"Ah … Yes. Can we have an order of ... " The man made a mistake of looking into the girl's eyes. He found himself at a loss for words as he stared into her hazel eyes.

"Ummmm.." The man stuttered, earning him a worried glance from his female companion. If his stuttering wasn't bad enough, he also began to shake slightly. His companion seemed to become even more worried as she took a hurried steps towards him.

Koneko couldn't help but sigh at the scene in front of her. This hadn't been the first time someone had reacted to her in a similar fashion. She had no idea why people reacted to her so weirdly but she definitely knew that it was starting to get annoying.

"Leave if you can't order." The girl's internal annoyance slipped into her tone as she addressed the shaken couple. Her voice seemed to snap the male out of his shock but also earn her the ire of the female. The woman took a demanding step forward as an irritated look crossed her face.

"Pardon me? Is that any way to speak with your customers?" The woman angrily questioned. The Nekoshou couldn't help but roll her eyes at the customer's question. If only she knew how little she cared.

"You're not my customer until you order something and you're also holding up the line." She responded in her usual monotone response. A shocked look crossed the woman's face before she quickly turned to verify the authenticity of Koneko's claim. Standing behind the duo was a line of irate people that looked to be seconds away from cursing the woman out. This didn't seem to deter her much as she rounded on Koneko once again with even more agitation clear on her face.

"I don't care about those people. What I care about is that you have the nerve to treat the people you're serving as rude as you have treated my boyfriend." The woman's voice had risen in volume in an attempt to try and win the hearts of the agitated people standing directly behind her. Unfortunately for the woman, she didn't get very far as the crowd only seemed to grow even more irate at the sound of her voice.

"You're annoying me and the people who are willing to order something. Leave please." Koneko stated simply while giving a dismissive wave of her hand. The response seemed to shock the woman as she gave a physical recoil to the girl's words. Her jaw dropped as her eyes seemed to almost pop from out her head. She quickly recovered, however, as she picked her jaw up off the ground and squared her body to face Koneko.

"This is outrageous! I demand to see your manager. I will not leave until I do!" The woman all but yelled. By this point, her boyfriend seemed to have recover from his shock as he stood behind furious girlfriend, looking stuck between being embarrassed by her or wanting to support her. The man settled for simply for remaining quiet and letting the situation play out.

Koneko gave a slight tilt of her head while saying nothing. Silence permeated the store as the two females entered into a staring match. The apathetic gaze of the Nekoshou combated the angry glare of the nameless woman as the tension between the two seemed to rise dramatically. This silent battle of wills continued for several long, uninterrupted seconds before the girl gave an uncaring shrug.

"Sure." Was her simple reply before hopping off of her school. The irate woman watched intensely as the girl leisurely strolled towards the back of the shop and disappeared behind it's curtains. Once the girl was gone, the woman seemed to visibly relax before suddenly turning on her boyfriend, seemingly more mad than ever.

"Can you believe this? How much nerve does this little girl have? I'm going to tear into her manager. They shouldn't have someone like her as the cash register. I hope she gets fi..." The woman fired off in rapid succession. All her boyfriend could do was simply nod in response and hope that she wouldn't find a reason to focus her agitation on him.

"Ahem." The sound of someone clearing their throat interrupted the woman's ranting. In a smooth motion, she turned on the spot, ready to fire off on the person that had interrupted her only to freeze when she came face to face (chest) with the figure.

"Is there something I can do for you?" The woman was forced to focus her gaze upwards to look into the eyes of the man in front of her. His form, while not overly tall, seemed to tower over her in every shape and form. His scruffy blond hair, large frame, cocky smirk and electric blue eyes did not help to rid him of an image of someone who did not belong in a candy shop.

The woman didn't let this bother her though. She had already came this far and her anger needed someone to be directed at. If this man wanted to step up and be that person, so be it!

"Thats depends. Are you the manager? Because I don't want to speak to anyone unless they are the manager." The woman stated hotly. Her comment was met with a light smirk from the blond man before his face took on a bashful express as he began to rub the back of his neck.

"I don't know if they count as the same thing but I am the owner. That's gotta count for something, right?" The blond said before releasing a loud laugh. A momentary hesitation fell over the woman at the revelation but she quickly pushed the feeling aside to continue her crusade against bad customer service.

"Even better!" The woman started off as her confidence seemed to be restored. "Just what kind of place are you running? The girl at the register was rude and completely unprofessional!"

Naruto couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the irate woman standing before him. During the brief lifespan of his shop, he didn't really have to deal with many angry or dissatisfied customers so the experience was rather new to him. If he remembered correctly, you were supposed to appease the customer in these type of situations because 'the customer was always right'.

"That's completely bullshit. If the customer was always right, they would always choose to order the Uzumaki Special ramen flavored ice cream." The blond's thoughts shifted to the seldom (never) ordered special he had put in place several weeks ago. He had expected the item to sell like crazy, just like the rest of his items, but it seemed that people didn't have the same passion about ramen as he thought they would.

"They don't know what they're missing out on." The blond mused to himself. His Uzumaki Special was the best item on his menu. Even Koneko had said so. It had taken a full week to convince the girl to actually try it but when she did, she loved it.

It was after having this thought that Naruto realized that he still had an irate customer standing in front of him. His silence only seemed to have had a negative effect on her mood as she came off as even angrier.

"Ehhh …" The blond started off, momentarily forgetting just why exactly the woman was angry. He felt a soft pressure on his side and looked down to see Koneko now standing by his side. Her presence triggered the blond's memory as he turned to face the woman again.

"I'm sorry that my … employee" Naruto sent a quick side glance down to Koneko. He figured for this situation would be better not to outright say the nature of their relationship. He figured that her knowing it would only agitate the woman further. "Offended you." The blond finished off rather lamely after such a long pause. His short statement was met with a bewildered look from the woman and a small sigh from her male companion.

"Is that it? I'm sorry?" She questioned incredulously. Naruto's eyebrow shot up as he began to inspect the woman.

"Are you hurt or something? I know some first aid." Naruto questioned back, making the woman physically recoil. She looked almost disgusted at the the blond's question as she looked around the restaurant as if for confirmation that the blond was being serious.

"No, you idiot! I'm not hurt. Your employee was being disrespectful and I think I should get some type of reparations for having to suffer through it!" The woman fired back. Her response seemed to confuse the blond as a perplexed look crossed his face.

"But … why? I mean, I can understand an apology but why should I have to give you something in return? If you're that offended why don't you just leave or something?" Koneko couldn't help but release a small chuckle at the unintended bluntness behind her boyfriend's statement. The no nonsense logic he was putting to use would usually be okay in any other situation but in the food industry where the customer was always right, it came off as a bit … rude.

The woman didn't seem to share the same sense of humor as Koneko as her face took on it's angriest expression yet. Several high pitched, guttural noises left her mouth as her body tensed up immensely. She looked towards her boyfriend, receiving only a small shrug in return, before turning to face Naruto.

"You know what?" The woman started with a loud huff. "You're right. I'm not going to sit here and take this rudeness from you. I hope you know that I will be leaving the worst review of your store possible. I will tell all my friends to never come here. EVER!" With that, the woman charged out of the shop with a loud huff. Her boyfriend remained behind for several seconds, dejectedly looking at the treats he would be unable to eat before sadly following after his girlfriend.

"Well she wasn't nice." Naruto commented after several seconds of silence. Koneko released a small shrug before reaching behind her back to untie her knot holding her apron together. Without a second of hesitation, she threw the garment in the blond's face before heading towards the counter of the shop.

"Hey!" The blond yelled indignantly yelled as he ripped the sugar covered piece of cloth off his face. By the time he had cleared his vision, the Nekoshou was standing in front of him with her backpack loosely slung over her shoulder.

"Leaving already?" Questioned the blond.

"Clubroom. Mandatory meeting with some special guests." The girl stated. A crestfallen look quickly crossed the blond's face before he spread his arms out wide. Koneko rolled her eyes at the teen's gesture before making her way towards him. When she came within arm's reach of the shinobi, he quickly scooped her up into a massive bear hug while lifting her off of her feet. A small smile worked its way onto her usual stoic face as her boyfriend held the embrace for several seconds before lowering her back down onto her feet.

"Do you always have to do that whenever I leave?" Koneko mumbled softly as she readjusted her backpack. The hug had attracted the attention of the customers around the duo, making the urge to leave the shop even greater within the Nekoshou.

"Yes I do. Now stop complaining and stop keeping your friends waiting." The cheerfully said while giving the girl a small pat on the head. The girl quickly shook away the boy's appendage with a small blush staining her cheeks. She muttered a silent goodbye to the blond before leaving the confines of the shop.

" **If you could please stop staring at your girlfriend's ass, we have more important issues to discuss**." The blond sputtered at being caught so easily before quickly regaining his composure. With a quick glance towards his remaining customers, the blond quickly made his way to the back room of his store.

" _I know what you're talking about but I don't think we have to worry about it. Yeah, they've been lingering around the shop for a bit but I don't sense any bad intent coming from them_." The blond thought to his partner before making a clone to take his place outside the shop. With his customers taken care of, the shinobi settled down onto the floor of the shop.

"Recently there have been a bunch of people who haven't shown malicious intent but still turn out to be a thorn in your side." Kurama's comment earned him a small chuckle from the blond as the sage got into a meditative stance.

" _Stop worrying so much. We can take whatever anyone has to throw at us. After all, if we can survive a fight with a dragon god, what's the worse that can happen_?"

* * *

"What's the matter, devil child? What happened to the passion I felt earlier? What happened to the hate I can still sense flowing through your veins? Give it to me!"

The remnants of his weapon laid fading around him. Dozen upon dozens of his sword were now broken shards of metal. His own blood decorated the ground along with the broken remains of his Sword Birth.

Kiba's chest rose and fell heavily as he stood in a shaky stance. Clasped in his hand was one of his newest swords, the Holy Eraser. Despite it's name, the sword hadn't been doing him much good against the crazed exorcist.

"Well? C'mon you shitty, little devil! Show me what you got." Freed yelled before charging at the devil. The exorcist had his own sword, his much more elegant than the one in Kiba' hand. The sword was, in shape, similar to that of a kris. The blade of the weapon was freakishly wide and diamond shaped. Two spikes protruded out near the bottom of the blade.

Kiba didn't have time to fully observe the holy blade as he was forced to raise his blade in order to block a blow from the exorcist. The devil felt his muscles buckle under the force of the man's blade as a power struggle took place. Kiba quickly realized he would be on the losing end of the struggle as he jumped away from the blond and settled into a defensive stance.

"Aww, am I going to have to start all the fun?" Freed yell before charging even faster after the devil. This time, Kiba was giving no time to rest as strike after strike was rained down upon him. It took everything in him to counter the man's swordplay, ultimately leaving him a bloodied, panting and breathless mess.

The exorcist released a loud bout of laughter before sending an overhead strike down onto Kiba. The devil raised his sword to block the strike and was sent staggering backwards in response. With the devil off-balance, the man quickly pressed his advantage slashing at the boy's chest, cutting through his clothing, flesh and muscle.

"Did I leave a booboo?" Freed joyfully proclaimed as Kiba stumbled backwards while clutching onto his wounded chest. The devil managed to regain his balance with the usage of his sword before taking off towards the exorcist.

"Yes! This is the fire I wanted to see. Show me what you got!" Freed yell as Kiba took the offensive. Every strike sent out by the devil was fueled by the boy's rage and was meant to kill. Unfortunately, none of them landed their mark as Freed skillfully blocked and parried whatever came his way.

"Shit! I'm starting to grow bored." Freed yawned out as he lazily blocked a particularly vicious blow from the teen. With a flick of his wrist, the exorcist sent the devil flying off of his feet.

The blond recovered in mid-air and managed to land lightly on his feet before once again taking off towards the exorcist. Freed, seeing the incoming threat, released a disgustingly pleasure filled moan before raising his blade into the air.

"Ah, ah, ah, No more sword for you! _Keep up_!" Within a single second, the blade within Kiba's hand shattered as if made from glass. The devil didn't even have time to react before a foot planted itself firmly within his chest and sent him flying through the air.

"You're too slow. You're too slow~. I hit you seven different times and I bet you didn't even notice!" The exorcist sang out loud as he watched the devil bounce limply against the ground. The man's laughter boomed throughout the empty plaza as Kiba laid still on the ground. The laughter was quickly put to a stop when the devil released a loud groan shakily standing to his feet.

The devil looked worse for wear as he struggled to stay on his feet. His body was littered with stab wounds and bruises from where Freed had struck him. A thin line of blood was flowing from his lips. Every inch of his body was shaking violently as he fought the urge to collapse to the ground.

"Looks like you still a little left in the tank. Good! I can't wait to continue beating your as-" The man didn't get to finish as he was suddenly and unexpectedly kicked in the side of his head. The force of the kick was enough to lift the exorcist off of his feet and send him flying several meters away.

"K-Koneko." Kiba managed to stutter out through the pain. Standing in the spot where Freed once stood was the devil's fellow peerage member. The girl's backpack was slung loosely over her right shoulder as she looked stoically at her injured classmate.

"Senpai … Looks like you need help." Koneko stated in her usual tone of voice before taking several steps towards the injured devil. Her advance was interrupted as the man she had previously kicked in the head decided to make his presence known to the devil duo.

"Now there's two! They just keep multiplying! Oh, what fun!" The man exclaimed as he ran towards duo. Kiba looked readied to confront the exorcist but was stopped when Koneko held out her hand towards him.

"Rest. You can't fight." Kiba wasn't fit to argue in his current state so he decided to oblige by the girl's will and sit.

With the knowledge that her partner wouldn't interrupt, Koneko turned to confront the charging exorcist. The man had recovered much of the distance he had been kicked during the Nekoshou's talk with Kiba. This didn't seem to bother the girl as much as she settled into a loose stance and for the man to approach.

"Come here, little kitty kat!" Freed yelled while charging at the Nekoshou. The man quickly got within striking range of the girl and immediately attempted to take the girl's head off with a side swipe of his sword.

Unfortunately for the man, it wasn't meant to be as his wrist was seized within the girl's grip. Before the man could react, his wrist was snapped with a sickening crunch and pop before he was slammed mercilessly into the ground by the small girl.

"Oh sh-" The man was interrupted once again as Koneko's fist slammed into his head, sending him deeper into the ground. The girl would've landed yet another hit if a volley of crossbow bolts hadn't forced her to jump away from the downed man.

"Freed. Stop with the obscenities and collect your weapon. We have more important matters to take care of." Kiba's eyes widened at the sound of his voice as he attempted to stand to his feet. Due to his current condition, all the devil could manage to do was to get several inches off the ground only to collapse back down.

"Valper!" Kiba grunted out through his pain as he laid eyes onto his childhood torturer. The man sent an apathetic side glance down at the injured devil before refocusing his attention back onto the exorcist. At this time, the man had managed to recover his sword and scramble back up to his feet.

"Old man, why do you have to ruin all my fun? I was just getting into it with these shitty little devils." The exorcist whined in a childish voice that was not meant for someone his age. The Genocide archbishop rolled his eyes at the childlike behavior of his charge as he shouldered his crossbow.

"Do not test me, child. You've already made me do more than originally plan. Retreat. Now." The man left no room for argument as he levelled his crossbow at the former exorcist. Freed, seeing he had no other option, wisely choose to obey the man's wishes while grumbling incoherently beneath his breath.

"Don't ignore me!" The excommunicated church member's attention was brought back to the injured devil as Kiba shouted out. This time, with the help of one of his swords, the boy managed to climb back up to his feet. The devil's face was screwed in a mixture of hate and concentration as he glared at the man.

"I remember you. I had figured you would of died with the rest of them. It's a shame to see that even my trash has sided with the devil." The man's comment made Kiba see red as he attempted to take off towards the former bishop. Unfortunately, due to his condition, he only managed a couple of steps before his legs gave out under him. Fortunately for the boy, Koneko was there to catch him before he could fall to the ground.

"R-release me!" Kiba grunted out as he attempted to stand back on his feet. Koneko ignored the devil's protests and instead focused on keeping him on his feet. The devil watched in anger as Freed quickly leaped over to his partner position and lifted him from his feet. A guttural growl left his throat as he watched the dark exorcist effortlessly leap away with the man on his back.

"You let him get away. You stopped me from getting my revenge." Kiba growled out as Freed and Valper disappeared from his sight.

"I stopped you from getting killed. Now, be quiet. Rias-Sama needs us." Before the blond could protest, the Nekoshou teleported the duo away.

* * *

"Another, my fine dessert connoisseur! I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight if I don't get another taste of your amazing sweets." Closing time had long since passed for Uzumaki's sweets but the shop was still open. The bright lights illuminating the interior of the shop spilled out through the windows and onto the streets.

Despite the lateness, the shop actually had several occupants, all of whom were sat/stood at it's counter. The tallest of the customers was a handsome, black haired man dressed in a japanese schoolboy's uniform. Strapped to his back was a large spear that covered the entirety of his back. Sat in front of the man on the counter wa a multitude of empty dishes.

Sat on either side of the man was a single man. To his right sat a young, black haired man wearing a pair of spectacles and the same pair of clothes his partner was wearing. Overall, he seemed to have a shy demeanor as he silently sat and ate the dessert in front of him.

Sat to his right was a man who looked to be the exact opposite. He was a handsome young man with mid-length silver-white hair. He was dressed in a uniform similar to the one the other two occupants wore. The interesting thing about the man was the amount of swords attached to his body. Two were strapped to each side of his waist while one sat diagonally across his back. The man looked serene as he slowly consumed his food.

Naruto didn't seem to be too bothered by the amount of weaponry the men carried. In all actuality, the blond looked excited as he dashed from end to end of his counter, making and pushing out all types of dishes to the trio of men.

"You got it. Another Uzumaki special on its way." Naruto beamed out before beginning to make the dish. The spear wielder seemed to be appeased by the teen's comment as he sat back down in his seat. He shared a knowing look between his two partners as they watched the blond deftly prepare their food. The shop owner seemed ignorant to the look shared between them as he put his full focus into his food.

"Y'know, up until recently I was completely unaware of you and your lovely shop." The man started off as he directed his gaze onto the blond. Naruto only hesitated in his movement for a second before his hands went back to work.

"I'm still sort of new to the area so that's probably why. The neighborhood seems to be welcoming me pretty well though." He punctuated his statement with a nervous chuckle while doing his patent head scratch with one hand and kneading dough with the other. The lead male brushed off the strange showcase of multi-tasking in order to speak again.

"I can see why. Your dishes are delicious. Everything I've been hearing about you is chalking up to be pretty accurate." The man stated casually just as Naruto placed his Uzumaki special in front of him. The blond gave a slight tilt of his head as he stood in front of the trio.

"I hope the things you've heard have been good. Just today I had a lady threaten to leave the worst review ever." The blond sheepishly stated. The bespectacled man twitched nervously at his words, catching Naruto's attention. The shinobi let his gaze on the man linger for only a few short seconds before veering his attention back to the black-haired man.

"Oh trust me, it's been nothing but good. The things I've heard about you have … as you say, piqued my interest." The man's tone and body language seemed to shift as he locked eyes with the blond. To his side, both of his partners shifted as the carefree atmosphere between the group slowly faded away.

"Ehh … What do you mean by that?" Naruto's face was one of innocence and ignorant as he directed his question back at the spearwielder. The man took it all in stride as he sat straighter in his seat.

"Oh, nothing serious. It's just that you usually don't hear about someone surviving an encounter with Ophis. When I heard what you had done, I knew I needed to meet you in person." With those words, any ignorance the blond had been feigning immediately faded away. The man's two companions seemed to pick this up as they became much tenser and alert.

"I see." The shinobi started off before crossing his arms across his chest. The action caused the man's companions to flinch but nothing else. Their leader didn't seem to bothered by the action as a small smirk slowly worked its way onto his face.

"Yes. Now, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Cao Cao and these my are partners, George and Siegfried." The newly revealed Cao said while pointing towards the two men. Georg gave a nervous nod of his head while Siegfried offered nothing but a slight narrowing of his eyes.

"You could say that we are associates of Ophis … but our goals are separate from her own." Cao quickly explained when Naruto began reach for his waist. His explanation seemed to appease the blond as he stopped the action.

"Oh really. And let me guess, you want me to help you achieve these goals." Naruto's comment and sardonic tone earned him a small chuckle from the leader of the Hero faction as the man seemed to relax in his seat.

"I see that you have gone through this process before. If what I heard about your encounter with Ophis is true then I can see why you seem a little jaded at our presence. But at least allow me to explain my goals before you place your judgement." Cao offered up. He was met with silence at first as Naruto seemed to contemplate his request. The man knew immediately the blond's choice when the shinobi released a soft sigh and unfolded his arms.

"Fine. I'll hear you out but only because you haven't tried to take my head off yet." Once again, the blond recieved a chuckle from Cao before the Hero descendant began to speak.

"I would first like to inform you that the people I work with have a singular goal and that is for the advancement of the human species. As you are already aware, the threat to mankind is not just ourselves. It is the Devils, the Angels, the Dragons and even the Gods. I feel that it is my job to push mankind to be able to compete and protect ourselves from the supernatural threat that these beings pose. I've been recruiting humans with especially extraordinary talents to assist me in my goal. I would love to have you join us."

Naruto had to give it to the man he was definitely charismatic. The way the man spoke was filled with confidence and conviction that would've swayed a majority of weaker men and women. Unfortunately for Cao, Naruto could easily see past the relatively thin veil of charisma in order to question the man.

"You claim to hate dragons and gods yet you are apparently working with Ophis. That seems a little odd, don't ya think?" Naruto questioned. His questioned procured him a small sigh from the descendant as the man gave a strong shake of his head.

"There are things you must do in order to achieve your goals. Working with that … girl is not something I enjoy doing but it is a necessary … for now. Soon though, we will no longer have any need for her and will properly dispose of her." Cao spoke. Naruto gave a small hum in response as his arm shot up to rub his chin.

"While all this sounds tempting and you seem like a pretty nice guy…" Naruto started off. "I don't think I can sign on to your cause. I don't think I have the same amount of passion that you have on the topic." Naruto finished sincerely while offering the man a polite nod of his head. The blond's comment seemed to agitate the swordsman of the group as the man shot up from his seat while reaching for one of the many swords attached to his hip. He was stopped, however, when Cao reached out his arm, effectively blocking the path between the two.

"I understand." The man's comment seemed to catch his partners by surprise. He stood from his seat before offering a low bow to his blond host. "I respect your decision and choose not to pursue the issue any further."

The man promptly turned and began to walk towards the entrance of the store, leaving his two companions at the counter. The duo remained there for several seconds, seemingly too shocked to move before eventually following after their leader. The trio reached the door of the shop and looked prepared to exit before Cao froze, causing his two partners to stop in their tracks as well.

"But…" The man turned to face Naruto as a small smile crossed his face. "If you ever find that your mind has changed, know that the offer is still on the table. Just voice your desire and I will be there to answer. I hope to see each other in the future." With those parting and rather cryptic words, the man turned and exited the store with his two companions trailing him, leaving the blond once again alone in his shop.

"I can tell that he's going to be a pain in the ass." He couldn't help but think to himself before glancing down at the counter. Left on it was a multitude of bills that added up exactly to be the amount of the man's check. Next to the stack of bills was a single sheet of paper that was covered in an intricate and indiscernible design. The only aspect of the seal that Naruto could make out was a twin pair of swords going through its center along with a spear running straight down it's center. Written below the design were four simple words.

"I will be watching." Naruto read out loud as he raised the paper to eye level. After studying the design for several seconds, the blond couldn't help but sigh before pocketing the small slip of paper. He then began to painstaking task of cleaning up the mess left behind by the trio as a single thought continuously played through his head.

"I'm going to have to deal with another black-haired prick, aren't I?. Kami, what did I ever do to deserve this?"

* * *

 _ **AN: Wow. What a chapter. There was a lot packed into it. Hope you all enjoyed it. If you find any errors, feel free to PM them to me so I can fix them. Review or PM me with any questions, concerns, comments, suggestions, etc. Have a wonderful rest of your day!**_


	20. Chapter 20

The mid-afternoon sun hung high up in the air over Kuoh academy, lazily shining down the last remnants of its rays. The school day had ended over an hour ago and the weekend was on the horizon, so only a few students could be seen milling about the campus grounds. Even fewer could be found within the school itself. Among the few was a particular group of devils that were sharing a discussion.

All in all, the image of the school made for a rather peaceful setting. The sun was slowly making its descent through the sky and was throwing an orange hue over the city. A small flock of birds flew high through the sky, throwing miniature shadows across the ground as they flexed their wings in order to fight against the pull of gravity.

If one were to look hard enough, they would be able to distinguish another figure floating high in the cool afternoon sky. The figure's ten black wings kept him afloat in the air as he peered down at the serene scene below him.

"Moments like these makes me detest the weakness that has been bred from this peace." The man said out loud before releasing a small sigh. The fallen angel flexed his wings slightly, sending him further up into the air as spears of light began to phase into existence around him.

"I refuse to allow these devils to poison my air with their presence. It it up to me to take their extermination into my own hands." The fallen angel spoke as he finished his ascent. At the apex of his flight, hundreds upon hundreds of light spears were now surrounding him, making for a brilliant but deadly light display. All remained calm for several long seconds before, with a simple flick of his wrist, the man sent his rain of light spears down upon the school.

"Let the games begin."

* * *

Something was wrong. He could feel it. As soon as he stepped foot into his house, he could sense it. Something was off. He couldn't tell what was wrong but he could SOMETHING was off.

The blond gently closed the door behind him as he warily took a step into his living room. The area of strangely quiet, something that he initially chalked up to Kuroka's departure. The Nekoshou had been the source of liveliness within his home for the past several weeks and he knew that without her, his house would be much more quiet.

But her absence wasn't what was giving him such a strange feeling. It was something else. He could sense something off within his house. He didn't like the feeling.

The creaking of his floorboards. Down the hall to the left in the southernmost room. His bedroom. His brow creased in frustration as the realization came over him. Someone was in his bedroom. No one had stepped foot into that room aside from Kuroka. Not even Koneko had been in there.

The blond was ghostlike as he slowly glided his way down the hallway. The slight creaking noise he had heard previously increased in volume with each soundless step he took. He could make out the sound of light breathing coming from the opposite side of his door. His brow furrowed in frustration as a kunai silently appeared within his hand.

The blond didn't even make proper usage of his door as he reappeared within his room in a bright flash of yellow light. He had immediately settled down into a crouch while his kunai remain drawn, ready to strike out at anything that so much as twitched. His eyes began to scan the small room for the intruder, and he didn't have to search far.

"Oh Kami, what are you doing here?"

* * *

Chaos. There wa no other way to describe just what exactly was going in on Kuoh Academy grounds. The once peaceful schoolyard had turned into a breeding ground of disarray as chaos ran rampant.

This is what Rias was facing. In all honesty, she should of seen this coming. Her position as potential clan heir demanded that she be more tactful when it came to matters such as this. Fallen angels within devil territory should've been a big enough warning sign to her. She should've been preparing herself and her peerage. She should've expected this. But she didn't and now she was paying for it.

The girl cleared her head as she took into account her surroundings. The school building had taken the brunt of the attack and it definitely showed. Even from her position on the utmost bottom floor she had a full view of the lavender stained sky through one of the many gaping holes that littered the building's exterior. Along with the oddly colored sky, Rias also had a full view of the hundreds of fallen angel's, shades and what looked to be demons that were making their way onto her campus.

"Rias!" The girl was snapped out of her thoughts when she felt two presences land near her prone form. She turned her head and was relieved to see her fellow heiress, along with her Queen, now standing by her side. The girl's bespectacled eyes shone with worry as she stared at the faintly injured girl.

"I am glad to see you." The redhead muttered out as the two devils helped her up to her feet. Once standing, the girl did a quick readjustment of her hair and clothing, much to the amusement of her two companions, before beginning to address them.

"Do you have any idea what is going on?" Rias questioned as she stared out on the despondent scene that had taken over their campus. Sona gave a slight shake of her head before gently pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose.

"Not exactly. We were all taken by surprise. All I am able to deduce is that the perpetrator is a fallen angel." Rias nodded, having come to the same conclusion just by looking outside.

That wasn't good. The enemy had and still has the element of surprise, she was uninformed, and her peerage was split apart.

This was definitely not looking good for her.

* * *

Incredulous. That was the best way to describe the blond shinobi as he stared at the two occupants of his room. His mouth stood gaping open for several seconds as he attempted to articulate his confusion before the words finally came to mind. "What the hell are you doing in my house?" Blunt? Yes, but when someone who was attempting to kill you only a few weeks prior found there way into your bedroom and was just leisurely lying on your bed, you had the right to be blunt.

Ophis gave a dry glance in response as she shifted slightly on the blond's bed. The movement set the teen on guard as two kunai found there way into his hands while he slid into a more defensive stance. His actions earned him yet another glance from the god before she directed her full attention onto him.

"I told you I would find you, Naruto Uzumaki." Her tone was flat, dead even, as she stared directly into Naruto's eyes. The teen's nerves were set on edge as he mentally prepared for a fight to break out. His mind began to run through a dozen different scenarios on how to properly subdue the God with the least amount of damage to the surrounding area. Their last fight in the Dimensional Gap had resulted in zero collateral damage merely because of the fact that there was nothing nearby to be destroyed. With them being so close to the city, he knew that if a fight were to break out, thousands would end up dead.

Luckily for the blond, he had no need to worry as the primordial being abruptly cut off the staring contest by facing forward and closing her eyes. Silence followed the ending contest as Naruto stared owlishly at his supposed enemy. The little girl looked as calm and serene as ever as she sat crossed-leg, her eyes closed in peaceful concentration as if he wasn't standing not ten feet away from her.

"Wh-" The boy didn't even manage to get a single word out before Ophis' hand shot up. Naruto immediately jumped back, his hands flashing through a set of seals for a technique that would be able to nullify whatever the God threw at him.

But once again, the blond had nothing to fear as Ophis merely raised a single finger up before pressing it against her lips, a soft shushing sound emitting from her before she returned to her meditative state.

Naruto blinked as his arms fell limply down to his side. He blinked again as the fresh memory of the girl shushing him overlapped with the memory of the very same girl attempting to harvest him of his power. The two images did not mix very well together, forcing the blond to blink once again to rid his mind of the mental projection.

"Did you just shush me?" The blond finally managed to question after staring at the girl for several more seconds. A single eye creaked open as the dragon shot him the most intense death glare he had the misfortune of ever receiving.

"Yes. Now remain quiet." Ophis simply stated before shutting her eyes once again. Naruto could go returning to gaping at the blatant and completely odd behavior the girl was showing. Just a few weeks ago she was trying to kill him. This didn't make any sense!

" **Calm down, brat.** " Kurama's voice rebounded through the blond's head, causing the panic he was feeling to quickly dissipate. " **You don't have to worry right now.** "

Naruto couldn't help the stupefied look that crossed his face at his partner's words. Were they talking about the same person right now? Kurama had been right by his side when the duo were battling for their lives against the Dragon God. They hadn't even been able to land a lasting blow on the girl and now he was being told not to worry? It didn't make any sense.

"What do you mean by don't worry? She tried to kill us! She is literally five feet away from us! Are you not worried?" Naruto thought/internally shouted as he tried his best not to allow his emotions to show on his face. He seemed to be doing a decent enough job as Ophis showed no reaction while he stood. Though, with the girl's natural stoicism, it was truly hard to tell.

"And don't you think if she wanted to deal you any harm she would've done it by now? Think for a second, kid. Look at her." Kurama was once again serving as the voice of reason within the duo's tumultuous relationship as he spoke. His words served to restore the blond's senses as he took a second to fully observe the God.

Her position hadn't changed during his entire inner monologue as she continued to sit with her back against his wall and her legs stretched across her leg. She was wearing the lolita style dress and headband from the day the duo had first encountered each other. Her hands were folded neatly in her lap as her long black hair fell down the length of her back. Overall, she looked like an innocent, young girl and not like a god that had been seemingly eager to kill him.

"I don't mean physically, you idiot. Go into your toad mode or whatever simple minded name you gave it." Naruto let out a soft grumble at the badmouthing of his sage mode but let the issue slide in favor of activating the technique. He felt nature's energy pour into him by the bucket loud and along with it came all it's hate. By now, the ritual of filtering out the emotion had become almost mindless to the blond as his body went about purifying the energy. It only took him a few short seconds before he opened his eyes again, revealing the now orange pigmentation contained within them.

With his sage mode activated, the blond spared another glance towards the dragon even though the act of looking at her was completely unnecessary. Her energy was potent enough that he could've easily sensed it without going into sage mode. It was rolling off of her in the form of tiny snakes that dissipated harmlessly in the air as when they got too far from the girl. It was an odd yet strangely mesmerizing sight. It was so enchanting that Naruto quickly became lost within staring at the scene.

"You're so helpless" The tailed beast grumbled, snapping the blond out of his trance. He had to decency to blush at being distracted so easily before refocusing his attention back onto Ophis.

"Her energy … It wasn't as intense as before." In the Dimensional Gap, her energy had been damn near crushing. It had surrounded him with each move he made and he could almost taste it within the air during their fight. The energy the girl was putting out now was still more than he had sensed any single person ever. He couldn't even hope to match it alone. But it was still nowhere close to what he felt during their fight together.

"Exactly. After fighting with you and that other dragon, she most likely exhausted a large amount of her energy. While it is a drop in the bucket compared to her overall reserves, she must realize it's enough to make a difference in a fight." Kurama explained, earning him a hesitant nod from the blond. The idea of a God expending enough of their power to even put a dent in their massive reserves was a bit hard for him to wrap his mind around but he could accept it. Some would call his own energy reserves monstrous and unending yet he had found himself on the verge of death from exhaustion many times. Still … that didn't explain why she decided to invade his home.

"It's probably because she knows you have a bleeding heart and won't attack her while she's 'weakened'. She gets the extra benefit of observing you while also allowing her reserves to recover using the purified chakra you've been pumping out. It's a win-win situation for her." Naruto let out a light curse at the truth behind his partner's words. He had absolutely no way to attack the dragon without her retaliating and possibly destroying the city, excluding the truth-seeking orbs. The urge to use his ultimate technique was strong as he stared at Ophis' unmoving form. He had even began to build up chakra in anticipation of activating the his cloak as his gaze focused on the girl for any sign of movement from the girl. When he found none, the blond released a long sigh before allowing his chakra to dissipate, eliciting an amused chuckle from his partner.

"It's not funny, Kurama. She's a god who wants to kill us." The blond mentally shouted at his partner.

" **She wants to harvest and use our power. She doesn't want to kill us. There's nothing you can do at the moment, child, so stop panicking. Just stay on your guard and take it from there**." Another sigh escaped the blond's lips as he acquiesced to his partner's request.

After all, what's the worse that could happen?

The brief image of Kuoh turned into a smoking crater with Ophis floating lazily over it's remain with his limp body in his grip flashed through his head. A shudder ran through his body as the image disappeared as quick as it came.

He really needed to stop asking that question.

* * *

The sound of bone cracking beneath the force of her fist reached her ears. Inwardly, she felt disgust as she watched the fallen angel tumble to the ground, his face a bloody mess as he screamed while clutching to his now disfigured nose. Outwardly, her face was set into its usual stoic mask as she brought her foot up and smashed into it the men's head, sending him into blissful unconsciousness … or death. She didn't stick around to see.

Koneko turned her head to observe the chaos that was surrounding her. She had actually been on her way to Naruto's house when the sight of a sky full of light spears caught her attention. The blond had taken a sort of half day off of work today for them to spend some time together. But, the figure of a fallen angel flying high in the sky was all the incentive she needed to reverse her direction and come sprinting back to Kuoh.

When she arrived, she was immediately assaulted by a group of fallen angel. The pest had made the school their playground as they assaulted anything that didn't have black wings. A trio had come to confront her, their intentions clear as they wielded light spears. They would never get a chance to use them as the Nekoshou ripped her way through their ranks, the girl's claws tearing their way through the grunts with a practiced ease. Her training with Naruto proved to be a huge boon as she found herself literally dancing around all of their attacks.

An explosion caught her attention. She turned her head and was relieved to see her king firing off her power of destruction in the shape of a sphere at anything that moved, the attack proving to be devastating as it reduced a group of shades and fallen angels to dust. With the imminent threat taken care of, Koneko quickly made her way over to the king to check her condition.

"Rias-Sama!" A sigh of relief left the heiresses' at the sound of a familiar voice. A light sheen of sweat covered her brow as she turned towards the friendly face. After fighting off fallen angel after fallen angel, it was nice to see the ever-calm face of her bishop. The girl's untouched schoolgirl outfit made for a humorously dark contrast on the ruined battlefield. Though, the girl's blood covered gauntlets showed she had definitely seen combat.

"Ko-chan, you have no idea how glad I am to see you." Were the first words out of the girl's mouth as the younger girl settled in front of her. The Nekoshou looked to be about to respond but stopped as a shadow fell over the duo. Rias, taking notice of the girl's behavior, turned to see what had caused the girl to react in such a way. The heiress soon felt herself rooted in place as she came face to face with the cause of the current state of the school.

"A Gremory. The last time I encountered one of your kind, I was making the ground match the color of their obnoxious hair color. It's a slight pity to see that you pest haven't managed to die out yet. Though, I am glad that I will be able to help to rid the world of you rats." The man smelled of death. His sickly, pale skin seemed to glow even in the dark overcast that had fallen over the school. His wings were spread out behind him, keeping him afloat in the air above the two devils. His face looked stuck between shooting the girls a sneer and smirking at all the destruction that surrounded him.

"Kokabiel. I would never guess a biblical figure would be the cause of all this." Rias said to the man in a calm manner, her years of etiquette training paying off as she didn't reveal the mass amount of panic she was feeling at the man's presence. Anyone whose name appeared in the bible and managed to survive until now was someone to be feared. She wasn't ready to face someone of that caliber. Even with her peerage, she wasn't ready to face someone like that.

This thought didn't seem to be shared by all members of her peerage as Kokabiel was forced to strafe to the side in order to dodge a brown blur. The fallen angel watched the blur come to a skidding halt against the ground, revealing its identity to be Issei.

Kokabiel didn't have much time contemplate the appearance of the human turned devil as an Asian-style dragon made of lightning slammed into him, carrying the fallen angel away in a large shower of sparks. The dragon lifted the biblical figure a full hundred feet into the air before exploding into a beautiful display of yellow and white yellow.

"The trash is now dealt with." Rias turned her head and relief flooded through her system when she saw her Queen standing on the opposite side of the schoolyard. The girl's usual playful aura was nowhere to be seen as she glared up at the sky where her dragon had taken Kokabiel.

"Akeno-senpai, that was so freaking co-" Issei's praise of his teammate came to a screeching halt as Akeno turned her attention onto him. The warm, playful teasing that could usually be seen behind those lavender orbs were nowhere to be seen as an frost like agitation took its place. All it took was a single look for Issei to get the message that now was not the time for praise.

"Is that Baraqiel's brat? I haven't seen you since you were a small child." Akeno's attention was snapped back to the air as Kokabiel's voice rang out from the shower of sparks. The fallen angel descended from the sky, completely unscathed from Akeno's attack. If anything, he looked amused as he stared down at the group of devils. Akeno's expression hardened to an even greater extent as the man lazily kept afloat over their heads.

"Do not say that man's name to me." An uncharacteristic growl left the girl's throat as she stared up at the man. Her action drew worried looks from her fellow as Kokabiel released a dark chuckle.

"Daddy issues? Dont worry child, even I have those. Let me release you from such a trivial matter." Within a blink of an eye, a light spear was in the fallen angel's hand. Before Akeno could even draw breath, the spear had already crossed half the distance. By the time she was able to tense her muscles to move, the spear was ten feet away from piercing her chest.

A brown blur. That was all Akeno managed to see before Issei appeared in front of her, his gauntlet raised to defend her. The light spear deflected harmlessly off of the boy's gauntlet, careening back towards the sky where it exploded in a bright flash of light.

"Looks like all the little devils have arrived. Good, it'll make it a lo-" The man cut himself off as he was forced to twist his body in midair to dodge a thrown sword. The weapon flew by him at a ridiculously fast speed, barely missing the fallen angel as it flew out of eyesight. "Seems like I spoke too soon."

The fallen angel glanced down to the new arrival on the battlefield. Stood only a few feet from the rest of the devils was one Yuuto Kiba, though to anyone that knew the boy, they could tell something was different about him. A certain calmness hung over the boy's head as he shouldered a massive sword. The thing looked to be as large, if not larger, than the devil himself yet Kiba didn't show any sign of strain as he carried the weapon.

"Someone's gotten a new toy." Kokabiel stated with a smirk. The man's statement did little to affect the devil as he lifted the sword off his shoulder and pointed at the flying fallen angel.

"You tried to harm my friends. For that, you will pay with your life." With those words, dozens upon dozens of swords materialized around the devil. A gasp escaped Rias' lips at the sheer amount of weaponry her knight was managing to summon. Even Kokabiel had to raise an eyebrow as the number of sword crossed over into the hundreds. Some of the weapons actually looked dangerous enough to give him a scratch.

"Tis but a scratch." The fallen angel mused to himself before summoning a sword of his own light spear. Since the devil thought he could go head up against him, he would be glad to crush the boy's delusions.

* * *

Silence. It was usually something the blond enjoyed considering how hectic his life could be nowadays. The silence he was experiencing now though was not something he would call enjoyable. The awkward, tension filled silence was slowly grating away at the blond's nerve and he was sure it was starting to be noticeable.

And the thing was, he was the only one providing all of the tension and awkwardness! Ophis didn't look to have a single care in the whole fucking world as she sat calmly on his bed, her eyes closed and her hands folded as she just sat there. Menacingly sitting there, probably plotting his demise or something along those lines. At least, that's what he suspected. He had absolutely no proof on the matter as Ophis hadn't given him any evidence to use against her. All she had done was sit there.

Sitting! He never thought he would hate such a simple action but Ophis had managed to make him detest it. He had attempted to busy himself around the house, cleaning up the remnants of Kuroka's mess and tidying things up in general, but nothing had worked. His mind couldn't get away from the fact that sitting in his bedroom was a god who had attempted to kill him and had verbally informed that he was still one of her target. The situation was beginning to make his head hurt which only served to further his agitation.

"Calm down, Uzumaki. Don't stress yourself ou-FUCK!" The blond shouted rather loudly as he mistakenly stepped on a pair of Kuroka's rarely worn underwear. The blond's footing was taken out from beneath him as his foot slid against the underwear. He was sent tumbling head first to the ground, a string of curses following after him as his body slammed into the ground. He sat there motionless for several seconds, too stunned at what just happened to move, before eventually wiping the embarrassing memory from his mind and climbing to his feet.

At least no one saw that.

"Uzumaki." The blond literally jumped into the air at the sound of the voice. When he landed, he had a kunai in hand and was prepared to slit the throat of whoever had managed to sneak up on him. When he saw Ophis standing at the entrance of the hallway, his kunai stayed raised as stared at her petite form.

"Ah…" Was all the blond could articulate as he stared down at the dragon god. The girl stood with her arms crossed along her chest as she stared at him with a single eyebrow raised. A quick glance down at himself allowed him to identify why he was receiving that look. Kuroka's panties was hanging from his foot. A sheepish look crossed his face before he quickly flicked his foot, sending the pair of underwear across the room and saving the last bits of his already damaged pride. "Is there something you need?"

"Your loudness distracted me from my rest." The girl responded in an even tone. The way she used rest made it seem as if the dragon had been possibly sleeping. Oh God, did she sleep in his bed? Was it weird to have a dragon god sleep in your bed before your girlfriend?

The blond cleared his mind of these thoughts with a quick shake of his head. He couldn't waste too much attention on those questions.

"Well…" The blond started off before straightening up. The shinobi resealed his kunai as he took on a somewhat sheepish demeanor. "I'm about to leave to go take care of some stuff around town…" He paused here, not completely sure on what to say next. The proper thing to say when one had invited guests over was to ask if they needed anything. Unfortunately for him, Ophis was the furthest thing from being an "invited guest" which put him into a rather awkward situation.

Luckily for the blond, he didn't have to worry much about responding as Ophis acted first. The god confidently strode over towards him, causing him to tense up slightly. Instead of attacking like he assumed she would, the god merely stood by his side while looking up expectantly at him.

"Where you go, I go." Exasperation filled the blond at her simple explanation. She not only broke into his house but now wanted to follow him around town? How crappy could this situation get?

"Anyone that annoys me will die."

….He really needed to stop asking that question.

* * *

"C'mon children! Show me some battle lust! Or do I have to blow up more of your precious school." Kokabiel cackled as Issei sent himself flying towards the man. The gauntlet wearer looked worse for wear as he approached the fallen angel with his arm outstretched. Etched onto his face was pure murderous intent as he finally got close enough to swipe at the men's throat.

Unfortunately for the devil, his attack hit nothing but air as Kokabiel sent himself flying backwards with a single flap of his wings. The air current produced by his wings slammed into Issei, halting all of his forward momentum and sending him tumbling headfirst to the ground. He would've found himself nursing a broken neck if Koneko hadn't appeared underneath him, catching him from his free fall before unceremoniously dumping him on the ground.

"Idiot. Stupid move. Don't do it again." The girl reprimanded her fellow devil while keeping her attention focused on the fallen angel. The man looked to be damn near giddy due to his half-hearted attempts to keep a grin off of his face. He had every right to be as happy as he was considering the outcome of the fight so far.

Koneko glanced behind her, her eyes meeting the pained filled one of her peerage's knight. A bloody red streak ran from shoulder to hip across his body. The wound was a reminder of the devil's encounter with the fallen angel. While Kiba's sword had been numerous and the ferocity of his attack was fueled by his need to protect his friends, the devil came up incredibly short against the much more powerful and experienced fallen angel. The man had evaded every sword that was thrown at him before sending the devil spiralling back towards the ground with a swipe of a hastily made light spear. The devil, even while being enhanced by the powers that laid within his chess piece, wasn't quick enough to react and was now suffering for it.

The crack of thunder sent Koneko back on high alert. The Nekoshou glanced up at the sky and saw Kokabiel was now drifting back and forth in order to dodge the series of lightning strikes that were raining from the sky. The lightning was colored a dark shade of purple, tipping the girl off to just who exactly was the cause behind the strange weather occurrence.

Akeno had made her move and was leaving the man distracted. Good. With the fallen angel's attention off of her, she had free reign to prepare an attack. Unfortunately, her long range move set was slightly lacking in depth. She was a close range fight, her piece made sure of that. But getting close to Kokabiel and not leaving without some type of wound was proving to be difficult. Despite her higher than average resistance to light poisoning, she rather not risk getting run through by one of the man's spear.

So she did what any logical person would do in her situation. She dashed over to the closest tree and grabbed it tightly with both hands by its trunk. With a small grunt of effort, she ripped it from out the ground, roots and all. She briefly balanced the massive hunk of lumber over her head, making sure to say a brief mental apology to her boyfriend and the earth for what she just did, before taking aim and throwing the tree at the still distracted Kokabiel.

Satisfaction. That was the only way to describe how she felt as she watched the tree slam into Kokabiel, sending him tumbling from the sky. The anxiety and worry that came during the unlikely projectile's flight through the air was completely wiped from her mind as pure joy at watching the man get buried beneath a tree replaced it. In the back of her mind, she knew that getting hit by a tree wasn't enough to do any lasting damage to the fallen angel. Someone who had fought in the Great War wouldn't succumb to something of that nature. She pushed those thoughts aside and decided to focus on the happiness that had filled her from smacking a grown man out the sky with a tree.

It was the small victories that mattered anyways.

* * *

"What is this?" Ophis questioned as she held onto the cone shaped objected that had a cold, white milky substance dripping down the sides of it. On top of the cone sat a single scoop of a powdery white substance that the milky lines seemed to be originating from.

"I told you, it's ice cream." Naruto said before returning to licking his own ice cream cone. Unlike Ophis, his ice cream was actually sherbet, a bright orange sugary substance that always managed to put a smile on his face. Even when he was standing next to a god that wanted to kill him.

The two made for a rather interesting duo considering the difference in height and appearance. Naruto was used to the heightened attention due to his time with Koneko so the stares went ignored by him. Ophis, on the other hand, didn't share the same sentiment as her blond companion. The stares annoyed her and set her on edge. It was only by Naruto's pleading and not so subtle threatening that she hadn't attacked anyone as of yet.

"It's cold." Ophis commented only to be ignored by the blond as he focused his full attention on devouring his sherbet cone. A spark of annoyance flashed within her at being ignored but it was quickly squashed. Getting angry with the boy wouldn't benefit her whatsoever. His actions made that abundantly clear.

So instead, she decided to focus on the 'treat, that laid melting within her hand. As a primordial being, she didn't require sustenance but her taste buds were still fully developed and perfectly functional. Her sense of smell was also working and was currently picking up the light scent of vanilla drifting up from her ice cream. Her mouth watered slightly before she tentatively lifted the cone towards her mouth and gave it a cautionary lick.

Cold. That was the first word that came to mind as her tongue came within contact of the ice cream. An explosion of flavor followed the cold feeling as the taste of vanilla invaded her mouth. It was sweet but not too sweet. Cold but not too cold. It made mouth water more and she would be lying if she said she didn't want more. Luckily for her, she had a full cone left to herself that she would use to explore the taste of the ice cream.

Naruto had to hold in a chuckle as he watched Ophis from the side of his eye. The dragon god was now eagerly licking away at her ice cream cone, her face morphed into a mask of concentration as she focused her attention on the taste of her treat. He knew ice cream would be able to hold the girl's attention. Minutes before, it looked like the girl was seconds away from decimating an entire city block. Now, the blond could see the tiny foundations of a smile making its way onto her face.

"Crisis averted." Naruto gave himself a mental pat on the back for his quick thinking. Sometimes being a badass ninja hero that saved lives was just a bit too easy.

An explosion ripped through the sky, shaking the ground in the process and sending the people surrounding the duo in a frenzy. Ophis, not expecting the small tremor, was sent slightly off balance, her grip on her ice cream being momentarily released as she caught her balance. Unfortunately she was not fast enough to save her treat as the ice cream cone slammed mercilessly to the ground, its content spilling onto the warm concrete along with the beginnings of any happiness the dragon god had been feeling.

Naruto's eyes caught none of this as he focused on trying to find the origin of the explosion. His eyes locked on and narrowed on a floating figure on the opposite side of town. Target found.

"Ophis. I'll be right ba-" Naruto turned to addressed the dragon but stopped himself when he came upon a horrifying fact. Ophis was no longer standing beside him. A quick sweep of the surrounding area told him that she was now nowhere near him. The infinite dragon god was on the loose in Kuoh and he had just let her walk away.

"Fuck me."

Maybe being a badass ninja hero wasn't as easy as it seemed.

* * *

A tree. A god forsaken tree. Worst of all, it was thrown by a teenage girl. Oh, how that fact angered him.

Koneko could sense that anger. It was damn near palpable being as close to him as she was. A quick side step allowed her to dodge a forward thrust from the fallen angel's light spear. Attempting to take advantage of the man's over extension, the Nekoshou shot off her back foot and sent herself rocketing into the fallen angel's guard. The man had no time to react before Koneko landed a hay-maker punch to his stomach, lifting Kokabiel further off the ground and sending him propelling backwards.

That was just going to piss him off even more. She knew that but it had been so satisfying landing a hit on the fallen angel. Her training with Naruto definitely had been paying off as she could actually feel the man's muscles beneath her fist contract as she made contact with it. The light amount of spit and bile that came from his mouth and fell in front of her didn't even bother her much considering she had been the cause of it.

With the man slightly separated from the Nekoshou, Akeno made her move. The girl had been focusing her energy for the past minute while the Nekoshou had been engaging the fallen angel. A basketball sized orb laid between her hands as her eyes stayed trained on the man. As soon as Koneko landed the hit, the Queen knew it was time. She let her attack off, sending the orb of deadly electric careening through the air. The orb crossed the distance separating the devil and the fallen angel in a single second. It looked to be about to slam into the fallen angel but before it could, Kokabiel twisted in mid-air, backhanding the orb out of the air, sending the attack slamming harmlessly into the ground several feet away.

Akeno didn't have time to mourn the utter waste of her energy before Kokabiel retaliated. With a single flex of the man's wings, hundreds of hardened fingers were sent rocketing towards the girl. The feathers covered an area of over 100 yards long and were approaching quickly, forcing the devil into a hurried backpedal as she attempted to find a way to evade the steel wall of death. Luckily for her, she wouldn't have to think long as a red orb of destruction came flying over her head and slammed into a portion of the wall of feathers, eradicating them from existence. Sensing the opening, Akeno unfurled her wings and flew through the hole in the attack, just barely avoiding being skewered by dozens of feather.

The moment she landed in the relatively safer position, she wanted to turn and thank her King because she knew it was only because of Rias that she was alive right now. That was not possible, however, as Kokabiel was currently in the process of dive bombing her with a light sword in hand. The girl hurriedly began to build up energy once again in preparation for an impromptu attack as the man quickly closed the distance between the duo.

Metal meeting metal was the sound that greeted Akeno's ear. The devil allowed the energy that had been building up within her to die away as she stared at the back of her would be savior. The latex uniform the person was wearing was a dead give-away to their identity if they giant sword they were wielding wasn't a big enough hint.

"An exorcist working alongside devils? I didn't think the servants of God would fall so low." Kokabiel calmly said as he locked swords with Xenovia. The girl was physically struggling to keep up with the fallen angel's immense strength if the straining of her muscles were anything to go by. Even through the struggle, a snarl worked its way out of her mouth as she pushed against the men's sword.

"I am not working with any devils!" The girl punctuated the last word by drawing her sword back, ending the power struggle in the hopes that it would send the fallen angel off balance. Unfortunately for the girl, the man had centuries of experience in the art of swordplay that allowed him to predict the girl's simple tactic. So instead of stumbling forward, allowing the exorcist to end the fight by running him through with her sword, Kokabiel jumped backwards while taking a long swipe of his sword. Mid swing, Kokabiel forced his light energy through the blade of the sword, elongating it by almost double its original length.

"Not enough!" The girl yelled while hastily bringing her sword up to block the wave of light energy. Her holy sword absorbed the full brunt of the attack, saving her from being bisected. From behind the blade of her sword, Xenovia let loose a heated glare at the smirking fallen angel. The man wasn't taken her seriously and it agitated her.

Suddenly, Kokabiel leaped backwards just moments before a white blur crashed violently into the ground where he was standing. Koneko stood up from the small crater that she had formed by her 'Dynamic Entry', a technique that she had learned from Naruto. Her eyes briefly locked with Xenovia as a silent understanding was shared between the two before they leapt into action.

The duo made for a deadly duo with the combination of Koneko's enhanced strength and Xenovia's swordplay. The combat compatibility was strangely high as the girls flowed almost seamlessly through their attacks. Whenever Koneko went low to attack, Xenovia was directly behind her, aiming high in the hopes of catching the fallen angel off guard. Whenever Xenovia leapt to confront Kokabiel, Koneko was directly beneath her, ready to make the fallen angel paid if he slipped up.

Unfortunately, not even the impromptu teamwork between the two managed to overcome the fallen angel as he easily handled the two. Each of Koneko's attacks were redirected or dodged while Xenovia's sword strikes were all parried. Any ground gained by the girls was quickly taken back as Kokabiel happily repelled the devil/exorcist duo.

"Not even the combined might of a devil and a exorcist can overcome the strength of a fallen angel. Your kind will both fall to the hands of the gre-" The man would never get to finish his sentence or any other thought for that matter as he was attacked. A snake, as dark as the night, sprang up from beneath the man and silently latched onto his neck. A strangled yelp leapt from the fallen angel's voice as the snake's fangs buried into his neck. Koneko and Xenovia watched in a mixture of confusion and horror as men's yells grew louder and louder with each second passed. His sickly pale skin began to pulse a deep black as he collapsed down to his knees, his hands clutched uselessly around the body of the snake as he attempted to yank the creature off of him. His efforts were for naught as the snake kept its firm grip on his neck.

As the seconds passes, the fallen angel's attempts grew weaker and weaker as the snake seemed to drain him of his energy. It took only thirty seconds of the snake being attached to his throat for Kokabiel to finally stop in his struggling and collapse face first into the dirt, his body a disfigured and dry husk of what it originally was.

The snake removed itself from the now corpse with two quiet pops before focusing its attention onto the duo of girls. Both exorcist and devil alike tensed up slightly as the black snake looked to be about to about to attack them. After watching the creature literally suck Kokabiel, an enemy they could barely touch themselves, dry, they didn't want to be anywhere near that thing.

Luckily for them, the creature backed off as its owner descended down into the schoolyard. Koneko and Xenovia both had to hold back a flinch as they met the cold, emotionless eyes of the snake's owner. The eye contact only lasted a mere moment but the duo got the message it carried loud and clear. They were only alive because she willed it.

Ophis' feet lightly touched the ground just as her snake slithered up to her. The god gave the creature a light pat on its head before it crawled up her leg into the confines of her skirt. No one dared to ask how the god managed to store such a large creature beneath her dress in fear of some type of retaliation.

Her gaze wandered over Kokabiel or at least the man's corpse. It only took her a few steps to reach his prone form, each of those steps sending chills down the teen's spines as the god inadvertently got closer to them. Luckily for them, the god had no intention on bothering the duo as she crouched in front of the dead fallen angel.

A single touch of her hand. That was all it took before Kokabiel's body began disintegrate. His skin flaked off of his muscles in airy wisps that looked like the remnants of burnt paper. After the first layer of skin had degraded, the muscle soon followed. Then bone. Then organs until all that remained was a puddle of blood that was slowly soaking into the surrounding dirt. The process disgusted Koneko, Xenovia and the rest of Rias' peerage who had arrived just moments before the process started. The horrified look on their face was clear even when Ophis stood back to her full height and faced them, the same cold and emotionless look still present in her eyes.

"He made me spill my ice cream."

* * *

 _ **AN: Comment or PM me with any questions, concerns, comments, etc. Enjoy your days.**_


	21. Chapter 21

Cold and unblinking. Those were the two words that accurately described Ophis' expression. The god's face seemed to be set in a permanent mask of neutrality and stiffness as she met eyes with Koneko.

In all honesty, the young Nekoshou should've felt some type of fear staring into the face of an all powerful dragon god. It would've only been natural, after all. Even though her power was masked in the form of a little girl, Koneko was aware enough to realize that the person … well god sat in front of her could wipe her off the face of the planet within a blink of an eye. The girl had more power in her pinky than she would ever have in her existence. Yet none of this mattered to the girl. None of this mattered when the god was encroaching on her territory, aka Naruto Uzumaki.

The two girls were currently sat inside of the teen's shop at his counter. Koneko was sat at her usual position behind the counter while Ophis sat at the opposite side, lazily munching away at a tray of snickerdoodles while looking into Koneko's eyes. Her ears were covered by a pair of overly large and fuzzy earmuffs. The god's gaze contained no malice or ill intent, only containing a sort of emotionless quality that was off putting to most. To Koneko though, it was only a sign of challenge.

"Can you please stop glaring at her?" Her boyfriend's voice managed to draw the Nekoshou's attention away from the god and back onto him. The blond was caked in a ludicrous amount of sugar and powder as he sent her a pleading look. She shot him an irritated look of her own before sending her fellow loli a sharp side glance.

"I'll stop when she leaves." Was the girl's simple response before settling her glare back onto Ophis. Seeing that his girlfriend had no plans on stopping anytime soon, Naruto was left to do nothing but sigh and return back to his work.

It had only been a couple days since Kokabiel's attack on Kuoh so there was still hope that things would go back to normal. He just had to wait it out a bit.

That strategy seemed to always work out for him in the end, right?

Shortly after Ophis' rather quick and pathetic murder of Kokabiel, Naruto arrived on campus ground. The scene that greeted him would've been very amusing to him if everyone who was present at the school attention hadn't been switched over to him. Ophis hadn't made things any better in the moment when she decided to casually trudge over to him and stand by his side. Oh, that had gone so wonderfully with his possessive Nekoshou girlfriend. He could still feel the heat of her glare on him even to this day.

It didn't take much coaxing out of everyone to get the exact details of what exactly had went down. When he had discovered the Fallen Angel's attack and subsequent death, all he could do was sigh. He felt partly bad that something so huge had went under his nose for so long but he was glad it was dealt with so quickly. He was confident he would've been able to deal with Kokabiel himself but having Ophis there definitely made things easier … and a lot quicker.

He just hadn't expected the dragon to stay. He was able to sense the girl's reserves had refilled slightly after her encounter with Kokabiel. It wouldn't surprise him that she managed to somehow drain the man's reserves and convert it into her own. Now her energy levels stood at point where his victory against her wasn't guaranteed. Yet, she refused to make a move against him or, at the least, return to her 'home'. Instead, she stuck to his side like a lost puppy. Her excuse was that she was observing him. He didn't exactly know what her definition of observation was but he had a slight feeling that he would not enjoy it.

Now he was left here with two … well one agitated loli and one apathetic dragon god on his hands. On top of all of that, the shop was extremely busy today and his employee of the month aka Vali was nowhere to be found. The devil tended to disappear and reappear at the worst of times, leaving the blond in rather crappy situations like the one he was in right now.

" _It's not like he would do anything. He would probably just sulk around and go mop a corner_." The blond thought to himself as he skewered a series of rice dumplings along a stick before handing over to a very enthusiastic child. The young boy quickly a handful of money onto the counter before snatching the dango from the blond and running out of the shop. The boy didn't even wait to receive his change, something Naruto certainly wasn't going to complain about.

"Next customer please." The teen shouted over the multitude of conversations taking place within the building. A small smile worked its way onto his face as a duo, presumably a couple, began to make their way up to the counter.

Even with his hectic his life and shop could be a time, he could honestly say he wouldn't have it any other way.

* * *

"Why does everything have to be so difficult, Nya~!" From a very young age, Kuroka realized that everything wasn't as easy as it seemed. Sometimes the cards were just stacked against certain people. She was one of those people. She didn't know why but whenever God had created her had decided to make life just a tiny bit more difficult for her.

The day Naruto had released her, she had actually returned to the blond's house later that day with full intentions on talking the blond into letting her stay. She had went out and bought some ramen just in case her words didn't manage to woo the blond over. If she couldn't reach him, she knew that ramen could.

But when she arrived at the house, no one was there. She had assumed that the blond had gone out to his shop. That assumption came to a quick close when she felt a sudden spike of energy before the ground began to shake violently. Her senses immediately picked up the massive taint of fallen angel energy coming from the direction of her sister's school and took off towards it with full intentions on stopping any attacker who would dare attempt to harm her sister even if that meant revealing her presence to the girl.

When she arrived at the school it didn't take her long to realize that her intervention was unneeded considering her somewhat former employer was standing over the decaying corpse of Kokabiel, one of the Bible's more prominent fallen angel. The god looked bored as the fallen angel's body flaked and faded into dust and vapor into thin air. The girl didn't look the slightest perturbed by the sight as she focused her attention onto the surrounding devils, which included Kuroka's little sister. The had act set the older Nekoshou on edge as she had mentally prepared herself to leap out from her cover and face down the dragon. Fortunately for her, the situation didn't come to that as her housemate quickly arrived on scene and defused the situation.

That had been several days ago and ever since then Koneko had been stuck to Naruto's side. The young girl refused to leave his side, partly in a sign of her own affection and partly because of Ophis' presence. Kuroka knew that her younger sister saw the god as somewhat of a love rival even though Ophis had never shown any sign of affection towards Naruto. The girl had shown quite the opposite considering the fact she had attempted to abduct and kill Naruto. Yet, that fact did not matter to the territorial Nekoshou girl. In Koneko's eyes, Ophis was not the infinite dragon god of legends that wouldn't hesitate to kill anything that so much as annoyed her. Instead, Ophis was a fellow predator encroaching on territory that she had already marked for herself.

Kuroka couldn't help but shake her head at the line of thought she knew her sister was having. With any other given person, the older sister would've been more supportive of her sister's attitude towards her mate. But when it came to Ophis, the god wasn't just another random person. She was dangerous. If the young Nekoshou did something to annoy the god, Kuroka couldn't be sure that even Naruto could stop Ophis from completely annihilating the girl.

All of this was serving as a mere second thought to the Nekoshou as her longing stare stayed focused on Naruto's shop. She wanted nothing more than to run headlong into the building, beg for forgiveness from her little sister and be one big happy trio with the girl and the blond. Earlier that week she had been fully prepared to, but the confidence she had felt in the heat of the situation had been quickly doused. Now the same fear that had originally made her hide herself from her sister had come back to haunt her.

"Nya~ This is so unfair!"

"You shouldn't make so much noise if you're trying to stay hidden." The Nekoshou almost jumped out of her skin at the sudden voice behind her. Not many people could manage to sneak up on her so the fact that someone had managed it was slightly surprising.

"Vali-kun! Its been awhile, Nya~" Kuroka's cheerful behavior returned to her tenfold as she looked upon her colleague/boss. The teen looked the exact same as when she had originally saw him. Everything from his constipated looking scowl down to the straight from Hot Topic silver chain hanging from his belt loop. The devil seemed to almost sense her line of thought as his scowl seemed to deepen as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"I can say the same for you. What happened to your weekly reports?" He questioned while attempting to glare at the girl. His glare failed fantastically as Kuroka shrugged it off with a light laugh before she began to stretch in a cat-like manner.

"I've been a bit held up lately." She responded as she finished her stretching. The devil rolled his eyes at the girl's rather vague excuse. He knew he wouldn't be getting any more information from the Nekoshou. If there was something she didnt want revealed, she would make sure that the information didnt get revealed. Even if that meant giving her 'boss' an annoyingly vague answer.

So instead he focused his attention on the interior of his boss' shop. More importantly, he focused on the supernatural being sat at the shop's counter, casually munching away at a plate of sweets. From his view, it was hard to imagine the young girl as one of the most powerful entities in existence yet Vali wasn't so easily fueled by the innocent facade. That was one of the reasons; Afterall, he was out here instead of inside.

"So how's the new job, Janitor-San? I see you finally managed to get a day off from all the hard work." Kuroka's sardonic comment snapped the devil's attention back onto her. A sly smirk had made its way onto her face as Vali turned to face her, his scowl now turned into a full blown glower.

"How did you hear about that?" The boy's voice was deadly as he attempted to glare a hole through the Nekoshou's head. Once again, his intimidation attempts fell short as Kuroka merely waved them away with a light chuckle.

"Not telling. Trade secret, Nya~!" Vali was left with no option but to release his anger in a huff, knowing that pushing the issue would only result in more anger on his part. That was how Kuroka operated and willingly pushing himself deeper into her trap would be foolish.

The two descended into a somewhat comfortable silence as they both returned their attention back onto Naruto's shop. Kuroka's gaze immediately migrated over towards her sister and Naruto while Vali's remained solely focused on Ophis. A wind blew softly across the rooftop the duo were occupying, slightly lifting Kuroka's loose kimono while making Vali' hair ruffle slightly. From an outside perspective, the scene looked almost picturesque as the devils seemed to bask in the shared silence.

"So how in the hell are you going to deal with that mess?" Kuroka broke the silence as she gestured down towards the shop. Vali sighed in response, not because of the Nekoshou's rather blunt way of speaking but because of the meaning behind her words.

Unlike everyone else in the Khaos Brigade, Vali wasn't using Ophis in the hopes of gaining something in return from the dragon. Well, that was somewhat false. He hoped to one day do battle and slay the Great Red but he didn't expect anything from the god. He saw her as a somewhat objective and primordial force that didn't need to be bothered. He saw the Great Red as a force of chaos that was attempting to push that force over the edge. He also saw certain members of the Khaos Brigade, Cao Cao and his lackeys, in the same light. He hated to admit but he had taken on the role as a protective force in the god's life against those forces. As long as Ophis remained in the Dimensional Gap his job was pretty easy as he was pretty sure she was immortal in her home territory. His only concern at that point would've been dealing with the Great Red.

Unfortunately, when it came to Ophis, things weren't that simple. He had been sent into a frenzy when he discovered that she had left the Gap. That frenzy had only been somewhat calmed when he discovered through one of his subordinates that the dragon had been following his idiotic blond boss around.

Ophis was safe near Naruto. Vali may of had a low standard of thinking when it came to male but he would never underestimate the strength that the blond held. Cao Cao would surely attempt something but he would quickly come to the same conclusion. No, his concern with Ophis following Naruto wasn't her protection but with her mentality. There was something about the shop owner that Vali had discovered from his time around him. The teen seemed to have an almost surreal effect on people when he came in contact with him. The longer the contact, the more intense the effect. Even he could admit that he had fallen victim to Naruto's spell. The anger and intensity that had constantly burned within him seemed to have faded in strength from the constant buffeting by tj, leaving him feeling somewhat hollow in comparison. It was a strange sensation for the usually passionate devil and he honestly couldn't imagine how someone of Ophis' nature would deal with it.

A sigh slipped through his lips. There was nothing he could do about it now. Separating the god from the blond would be damn near impossible considering their shared stubbornness. He was better off with just sitting back and allowing things to play out.

"Hey, can I crash at your place for a while, Nya? I promise I don't snore much!" On second thought, maybe it would be less trouble to just storm down there right now and take care of the situation himself. At least he wouldn't have to deal with an annoying Nekoshou if he did.

* * *

It was an average day for Naruto Uzumaki. Well, as average as one of his days could get nowadays. With having a solemn dragon god constantly by his side and a hawkish cat-devil girlfriend following his every move, his definition of normal was a bit twisted. This didn't matter much to the shinobi as he basked in the early morning glow of the sun from the inside of his shop.

"It's days like these where I really appreciate opening this shop." The blond seemingly said to no one since not a single person was in his vicinity to actually listen. Ophis had her headphones on and looked to be meditating while Koneko was actually asleep in the backroom of the shop, Naruto having carried her there earlier that morning. The few customers who were actually present in the store were busy enjoying their morning coffee before they headed off to work. And Vali was nowhere to be found as usual.

" **I see you're growing senile in your old age.** " And there was the cynical voice of his partner to put an end to his overly happy mood. Kurama never seemed to fail when it came to that aspect of their relationship.

" _I see that time can't even make you less of an asshole._ " The blond shot back as he leaned his elbows against the counter. It was early in the morning and most of his customers tended to order simple coffee or small treats around this time. He didn't have to worry about preparing anything at the moment, allowing him to devote his full attention to trading barbs with Kurama.

" **An asshole, I may be, but at least I'm not idiotic enough to attract the attention of every single supernatural creature in a 10 mile radius of us just by being yourself.** " Naruto gave a slight wince at that one. That one hit a bit too close to home considering one of those supernatural creatures, a God for that matter, was sitting in his shop right now with unknown intentions.

" _It's not my fault! I didn't even do anything to them._ " Naruto mentally exclaimed, his face taking on a childish pout. A small silence followed his words during which he could almost feel the kitsune's rolling his eyes at his behavior.

"That makes it even worse. You mere existence attracts trouble." Kurama said, beating Naruto down once more with his words. The teen gave a sharp huff as he stopped leaning against the counter.

" _At least I don't have bunny ears._ " The blond knew what he was getting himself into when he said that comment. If there was one thing that Kurama was conscious about, it was his appearance. The beast's slightly oversized ears were a point of teasing for him as a child by his siblings and Naruto knew he was walking out into dangerous territory by bringing it up. It was too late to turn back now.

 **"...What did you just say to me?** " The tailed beast's tone had dropped slightly as a small indication of just exactly how he felt. Naruto hesitated only slightly before pressing forward.

" _You heard me, you overgrown human rabbit._ " He had sealed his fate so he might as well go all in.

" **You dare to speak to me like that, you idiotic, frog licking, tree humping, sorry excuse for a sage!** " Kurama fired back with just as much bite, bringing up topics he knew would anger the blond. And anger him it did as Naruto's face took on a mask a fury.

" _I'm a very good sage, you mutated bunny rabbit. And they are toads, not frogs!_ "

" **Frogs, toads it doesn't matter. What you call them doesn't change the fact that they are as useless as the bugs they made you eat.** " Kurama had struck low with that one and he knew it. The blond immediately swelled in his anger as his face turned a noticeably brighter shade of red.

"You listen here, you bit-" The blond was just in the genesis of his insulting tirade when he noticed that he had started talking out loud … and he had a duo of new guest standing at his counter. He immediately straightened up and wiped the angered look off his face while mentally urging his partner that their argument would be continued later.

"Heyo! What can I get for you two?" Naruto casually addressed the duo standing in front of him as if they were any other customer. Which they werent considering one was a perverted harem-driven devil and the other was an excommunicated priestess turned devil.

The two devils stood nervously in front of the shinobi, both a bundle of nerves as they faced their blond savor. Issei was having a hard time remaining still while Asia couldn't even look at the teen.

"I … Uh... I" Issei mumbled as he tried his hardest to make eye contact with Naruto. A few weeks ago, he had only known the blond as being simple candy store owner. But, now he knew the blond was possibly a nature god that also ran a candy shop on the side.

Fortunately for Issei, he wouldn't need to speak up as Asia did it for him. The woman all but threw herself at the counter of the shop as a resolute expression found its way onto her face.

"Naruto-san! Please teach me how to bake so I can make Akeno-san a cake to cheer her up!" Asia exclaimed with closed eyes and her hands thrusted forward. Her yell managed to catch the attention of everyone in the shop, including Ophis as the god glanced over to the person who had disturbed her meditation.

Naruto silently stared at the girl for several seconds, making the priestess fear the worse. She knew that she was taking a huge risk coming to the shop. Issei had made it clear that the owner of the shop has been a strange man and his help wasn't one hundred percent guaranteed. Her somewhat demanding tone probably didn't help much either.

"Why is Akeno sad?" Asia's eyes shot back open at the unexpected question. Her head tilted up slightly to meet Naruto's cerulean eyes with her own.

"Well … I'm not too sure. Ever since the battle with the fallen angel, she hasn't been herself. She barely even talks to any of us, including Rias-Sama!" The girl's tone started off hesitant but quickly picked up in confidence as she spoke. Issei stood to the side as a silent bystander in complete awe and slight pride as he watched his fellow devil be so confident. Asia had never been confident when it came to expressing herself especially when it came to strangers.

"She makes us snacks and treats all the time." The girl's self-assured tone began to taper off as she broke eye contact with Naruto. A sudden interest in the floor tiles came over her as she stared at the ground. "I thought if I surprised her with a cake of my own, I could cheer her up." The devil finished off her speech in a barely audible mumble, her confidence having completely faded away. Naruto released a thoughtful hum once Asia finished before descending back into a thoughtful silence.

" **We all know you're going to help her out so just say yes.** " Kurama chimed in.

"How do you know I'll say yes?"

" **Because you're you, idiot**."

"...The insult wasn't necessary but point received." Naruto cut off his mental connection with the beast to spare himself any more insults. He then refocused his attention back onto Asia who looked like she was seconds away from running out the shop. The sad and defeated look on the girl's face pulled on Naruto's heart as he subconsciously and begrudgingly realized just how right Kurama was.

"I think what you're trying to do for your friend is really sweet." Asia's heart fell at what she thought was the dismissive tone in the blond's voice. She quickly realized how mistaken she was the she felt a hand land on top of her scalp. She slowly lifted her head to look at the now smiling face of Naruto Uzumaki.

"So I would love to help you make a cake. Let me get you an apron and let' started baking." The girl's face lit up in a brilliant smile that almost seemed to light up the room. Naruto, himself, couldn't help the slight surge of happiness that shot through him at the sight of her face.

" **You're such a sentimental bastard**."

"Shut up and let me enjoy this moment."

* * *

Baraqiel. The name disgusted her even when it was just in her thoughts. The man, her father, was the bane of her existence. And the battle with Kokabiel dragged up every single negative memory connected to him.

She was his daughter and she would never be able to get away from that. His dirty blood flowed through her and she couldn't change that. His powers constantly tried to wrestle control over her. The cause of her mother's death gave her life and she hated every second of her existence because of it.

Those were just some of the few thoughts running through Akeno's head as she attempted to busy herself with cleaning the club-room. The room was damn near spotless, considering the fact she had secluded herself to the room for the past hour, yet the girl continued to work. Any inconspicuous speck of dust or dirt was claimed victim by the devil in a desperate attempt to block out her melancholy thoughts. The girl was a flurry of fabric and hair as she flew around the room like a twister.

"Akeno-san." A soft voice managed to pause the Queen in her movement. The girl knew who the voice belonged to. There was only one person who had access to this room and could manage to sound so sweet and innocent.

Akeno managed to hold in a sigh as she turned to face Asia. To her surprise, the girl wasn't empty-handed. Clutched to her chest was a round plastic container. And contained within that container was a cake.

"I-I just wanted to give this to you." Asia stuttered out while holding out the cake towards the Queen. With the pastry now closer, Akeno was able to get a better look at it. The thing was obviously not professionally made. The haphazard distribution of icing and the misshapen sides made that very clear to the devil. The thing that gave away the fact that the dish was homemade was the handwriting on top of the cake that spelt out her name.

"What is this for?" Akeno questioned, genuinely unsure of the cake's purpose. Her and Asia were good friends, of course, but nothing had occured between them recently to justify something like this. Asia seemed to pick up on this as her fell slightly for a few seconds before she met eyes again with Akeno.

"You just seemed so sad lately so I thought I could help cheer you up." The girl mumbled out while retracting her arms, her shyness coming into light once again. Akeno blinked owlishly once before her patented giggle slipped past her lips. Asia was taken by surprise as this was the first time she had heard Akeno laugh in a whole week.

"I'm sorry for my rudeness." Akeno started off with a few more giggles escaping from her lips. "But I cannot accept this cake from you."

It was Asia's turn to be shocked at the girl's response. Even though she had shyly approached the situation, she hasn't expected to be rebuked so easily by Akeno. The lax tone it was said in definitely didn't help the situation.

"But … But.." The young blond was put to a quick stop when Akeno raised her hand. Asia was left entirely speechless as the girl began to talk again.

"You don't understand. I cannot and will not accept this from you. I am not deserving of it. Someone as dirty as me does not deserve this." She explained with a sense of finality to her voice. The solemn tone carried in her words did little to help improve the blond's mood. Asia looked as if she wanted to refute the girl's claim but whatever confidence that had built up within her quickly died away when she got a glance of Akeno's face. Her expression almost dared the younger girl to respond just so she could cut it down with ruthless efficacy.

So it was with those parting words that Asia admitted defeated. The young girl clutched the cake back to her body, turned away and walked to the club-room's exit. Akeno watched with mixed emotions as her fellow devil trudged through and out the room's exit, leaving her alone once again.

* * *

"Well that didn't go well." Naruto said out loud from his position on top of one of the many trees bordering Kuoh Academy. His eyes were locked onto the quickly retreating form of Asia as the young girl made a mad dash away from the clubroom. Even from his position across campus, he could hear the girl's somewhat muted sniffles. The cake clutched to her chest was a clear sign of just how well her 'mission' had went.

" **Do you plan on intervening again**?" Kurama questioned from within his mindscape. Naruto released a thoughtful hum at the question as his eyes tracked Asia until she ran into the Issei's awaiting arms.

" _I don't think so, at least for now. Sometimes friends just need to work things out amongst themselves_."

" **You mean like you and Sasuke**?"

" _Excluding the chidori and rasengan, then yes. When they manage to get through this, they'll friendship will be much stronger! That wont happen if I walk them through everything_." The blond finished as he watched the two devil's begin to walk away, arm in arm with one another. Asia seemed to have calmed considerably due to Issei but was still visibly shaken up. He was sure the girl's mood would improve even more with Issei near her.

" **For your general level of intelligence, that was actually somewhat profound.** "

" _I don't like all your complaining recently. At least I don't rap every sentence like Bee!_ "

" **I can't even imagine how quickly I would've attempted to tear through the seal despite the consequences with that man as my host**."

" _Wouldn't doing that kill you_?"

 **"Death would be much kinder to me than that men's constant babbling**." Naruto couldn't help but chuckle at his partner's attitude. After all, he couldn't be sure if he would be able to last trapped inside his fellow Jinchuuriki's gut.

"Uzumaki." Naruto could proudly say that he didn't jump out his skin when Ophis said his name. Instead, he calmly turned to face the god who was calmly leaned against the main trunk of the tree. "I wish to leave. These insects refuse to stop pestering me."

Naruto could barely hold in a chuckle as he watched the girl's composure break slightly through her attempting to swat away a fly. The laugh was quickly suppressed when his mind caught up to the fact that the young girl was still a dragon god that supposedly wanted to kill him.

"Yeah, we can go now. I don't think Im needed anymore. Plus Koneko is probably awake by now." The blond said before promptly jumping from the tree. Ophis was not far behind him as the duo quickly began to make their way back into town.

* * *

"I hate that child." Baraqiel couldn't help but mutter as he wiped some sand from behind his ear. Even though it had been weeks since his altercation with Naruto, he was still finding sand in places he rather not find sand in. It served as an irritating and constant reminder of what had occurred.

"Stop whispering to yourself. It makes you seem more senile than you actually are." Baraqiel glanced over to his less agitating partner and person who had shared in his fate. Unlike him, Shemhazai had been taken to a much colder place, a tundra to be more exact. The blond had buried his fellow fallen angel in yards of ice and snow before disappearing. When the duo had finally managed to regroup, the man was still experiencing signs of hypothermia.

That had been weeks ago. When Azazel had discovered what happened, the man wouldn't stop laughing for a full hour. It had taken Shemhazai physically threatening him to shut him up. Him and Shemhazai had debated going after the blond again but quickly discovered no merit to the idea after an analysis of their rather quick defeat. It hadn't taken a single minute for the teen to incapacitate both men and that had been with a single move. Another encounter would be near suicidal.

"You're the older one so technically speaking you would be the more senile one." Baraqiel cooly responded as he continued to pour over his set of reports. Ever sense all but banning Azazel from a majority of his job, the fallen angel duo had been force to take up his work. This meant doing all of the men's paperwork.

"I didn't realize the idiot had so much paperwork." Shemhazai said as he pushed aside his second stack of papers for the day. Baraqiel grunted in response, agreeing with his partner but not having the energy nor motivation to give a verbal response.

"Speaking of Azazel, where the hell is that idiot? He should be the one he-" Shemhazai was quickly silenced when the door to their shared office burst open. In came walking the exact same idiot the fallen angel had just been talking about.

"Hey guys! Guess what? I brought a friend!" The man loudly exclaimed before stepping aside, allowing full of the doorway. Shemhazai actually used the Lord's name when he saw who was standing in the doorway. Baraqiel actually shot up from his seat when he saw their guest.

"Hello brothers. Nice to see you both again."

* * *

 **AN: Hello people. Well ... what I meant to say is holy shit. Since my last update, we are now the fourth more favorited Naruto/DxD fic. How in the hell did that happen? When I started this story, I couldn't and didn't even imagine how big this would grow. I just want to thank all of you for all the support you've given me and this story. I really appreciate it all. I've written some pretty crappy shit in the past so trust me, I really do appreciate it.**

 **Past all the sappy crap, I hope you guys enjoyed the latest chapter. I'm continuing along the lines of changing things up. The changes will manifest themselves more clearly in future chapters but hopefully you can see them taking place already. That's about it. Hope you enjoy the est of your day. Adios.**

 **Side Note: If you find any errors while reading this story, please let me know. They are not flames or hateful comments, they are criticisms and helpful suggestions that I would love to hear. Lay it on me. I promise to be kind!**


	22. Chapter 22

There were a lot of things that Koneko loved about her boyfriend. In all honesty, the things that she thought she 'disliked' about him were minor faults that she had grown to endear. It was just … the way he went about doing certain things made him absolutely infuriating to be with.

For example: his kindness. The blond was unimaginably kind to almost every single person he interacted with. She loved that about him. What she didn't love about it was the fact that he had to be so kind to every single PERSON around him which included well-endowed females.

Asia Argento. The Nekoshou knew she shouldn't ever feel any type of anger towards the girl. The girl still acted like an angel even though she was a devil. Everything from her features to her mannerisms made it almost impossible to not like the young girl. BUT, Koneko managed to do just that when her fellow devil decided to intrude on her territory. Her territory being one overly helpful blond.

It was completely and honestly innocent and Koneko knew that. It seemed that Asia had had such a fun time learning how to bake under Naruto during their first meeting that the devil had come crawling back for more. It definitely didn't help that Naruto had basically guided the depressed and wanting girl into his kitchen with open arms, a wide smile and supportive words.

"Not that much su-" A small explosion brought the devil out of her thoughts. She turned towards the other end of the bar where she was meeted with the somewhat infuriating sight of Asia and Naruto covered in an absurd amount of sugar. Silence reigned true for several long seconds before the duo of blonds erupted in a fit of giggles and chuckles, unknowingly sending Koneko deeper into her agitation.

"Not even funny." The girl ended up mumbling beneath her breath, unable to inwardly contain her anger anymore. Her low spoken words caught the resident god's attention as the gothic-dressed loli moved her attention over to the Nekoshou. Ophis said absolutely nothing as she remained silently staring at Koneko, agitating the girl even further. The staring continued for a full minute until the young Nekoshou could no longer contain her anger.

"Stop looking at me." The girl growled out to the god. She knew she had made a mistake the second the words left her mouth as Ophis actually visibly reacted to her words. The god blinked her eyes a single time before a deep scowl overcame her face. The angry look only lasted for a second but in that second, a series of disturbing mental images flashed through Koneko's head. Her death, torture, Naruto's death and even her sister were just the subjects of a few of her thoughts. The visions lasted for only a second before Ophis' expression changed back to her usual, neutral self.

"You reek of envy." The god stated before switching her attention away from Koneko. The Nekoshou blinked rapidly as she attempted to comprehend the events that had just taken place inside and outside her head. It took several seconds for her fear-riddled mind to recover before she was able to talk.

"What did you just say?" The girl questioned in a demanding tone as if the god sitting in front of her hadn't just sent her a literal death glare. Ophis shot a side glance back towards Koneko briefly before straightening her gaze.

"The sin. I can feel it flowing from your skin. The scent of it is repulsive." Ophis replied, not even bothering to look at the Nekoshou while she talked. Koneko seemed to take offense to this as the young devil almost shot up from her seat. It was only the more rational portion of her brain that kicked in and saved her from doing stupid by forcing her to remain in her seat.

"I am not envious." Koneko quickly shot back. It was too late though as Ophis was far past listening to the girl, leaving the Nekoshou alone to stew in her own anger.

Another bout of giggles coming from Asia forced the young devil's attention back towards the blond duo. The newest member of Rias' peerage now had an animal shaped cookie cutter in hand and was going to town on a pan filled of dough. Standing by her side, his smile bright as ever, was her boyfriend. The scene brought a whole new spike of emotions into the devil as she slumped her head down onto the bar.

"I'm not jealous." Koneko muttered in a feeble attempt to convince herself that Ophis wasn't right.

It didn't work.

* * *

The amount of awkwardness taking place within the Grigori headquarters couldn't even begin to be described by words. The tension in the room was thick enough to be choked on. A single spark could've set the room alight. And you wouldn't of been able to tell any of this from the look on Azazel's face. The man was grinning ear to ear as he looked at the people around him.

"This is a nice family reunion." The man's comment earned him the agitated glares of the three other angel's present. The distasteful looks went ignored by the man as he continued smiling as bright as ever.

"You haven't changed a bit, Azazel." The odd man in the group spoke out. His comment earned him a bashful chuckle from the fallen angel leader and apathetic glances from his two generals.

"What are you doing here, Michael?" Baraqiel spoke up, cutting straight to the chase. The leader of Heaven directed his attention towards the jaded fallen angel with his ever serene smile placed on his lips.

"I just came to talk with my brothers." Was the angel's response. Baraqiel visibly twitched in response to the vague answer while Shemhazai was much more vocal in his comeback.

The fallen angel shot up from his seat in a rushed state. His wings flared out behind him as his essence began to fill the room. The man's eyes seemed to want to glare a hole into the present angel as he leaned towards Michael.

"Do you honestly think you can just walk into our territory and act this casual? I don't care if this idiot let you in, we will be shown respect on our land." The man barked out as he flexed his power throughout the room. Michael didn't looked to be the slightest bit perturbed by the his actions as he remained sitting in his seat as calm as ever. The angel's calmness did little to calm the man as Shemhazai looked seconds away from leaping at him.

"Sit down." Two words from Baraqiel was all it took to calm his fellow fallen angel. Shemhazai glanced back at his long time friend and saw the man staring directly at Michael. He then glanced back at the angel, his anger still visible in his movements. Despite his body language, he said nothing further as he slowly lowered himself back down to his seat.

"Michael." Baraqiel spoke up once again, catching the attention of his untainted brother. The leader of Heaven glanced over to his stoic sibling and met eyes with the man.

"Baraqiel." The angel spoke out, his voice a heavenly mixture of calm and harmonious. The man's voice would've been enough to tame the wildest of beasts. It was one of the reasons why Michael was well-loved by his own people and in the diplomatic world. His voice just had a special effect on people and the man definitely used that to his advantage. Unfortunately for him, he was dealing his siblings, the people who had dealt with the effects of his voice since birth. Things wouldn't be as simple as they usually were.

"While I am not as hot-headed as Shemhazai." The man stopped in his speaking to send a side glance at his fellow fallen angel. Shemhazai huffed in response and looked away, refusing to meet his brother's eyes. " I do agree with his reasoning. So I advise that you say what you have to say before I lose what little patience I have and forcibly evict you."

"If I had known you two would be so hostile, I would've brought Gabriel along with me. Im sure she would've calmed you both down." Michael shot back immediately. His comment earned him a hearty chuckle from Azazel but that was put to a quick end by a twin set of glares from his fellow fallen angels. The duo looked to be about to turn on Michael but he spoke up again before they could.

"Jokes aside, my brothers, I do come here for a set purpose. Recently, I've been discussing with Azazel about a dual agreement that will work towards the benefit of both of ou-" The angel trailed off as an interesting sight captured his attention. Shemhazai seemed to have teleported across the room and now had Azazel in a headlock.

"All this time we've been doing your work while you've been talking with angel-boy over here? I've signed two hundred fucking papers in the past three days, you idiot." Shemhazai yelled into Azazel's quickly reddening face. The man looked as if he was attempting to apologize but the only thing coming out of his mouth was a loud wheeze.

"You guys really haven't changed one bit." Michael chuckled out as he watched the fallen angel duo go at each other. Baraqiel couldn't help but sigh and cover his face in an attempt to mask his embarrassment. It shamed him to admit that the angel's statement was mostly true when it came to the trio. Azazel was still as idiotic as he was as a child, Shemhazai was still a massive hot head and he … well he was himself. There was no changing that.

"While I would love to sit here and watch this all day, we must seriously talk." Michael's words managed to calm Shemhazai down enough to relinquish his hold on Azazel's neck. Baraqiel brought his head out of his hand to look at the now serious Angel.

"Our kinds have been at each other's throats for years. Even with this ceasefire in place, animosity between us hasn't calmed a bit. We are dying as a species, and I do mean we. You all may of fallen out of our Father's grace but that does not mean I still do not care for you all. I know all three of you care for the people beneath you and do not wish to see them fade away." For once, all three of the fallen angel leaders were paying rapt attention to the same thing. There was very little that could accomplish that feat and Michael was one of the few things. He had inherited that quality from his Father. The man could capture the attention of any living creature within hearing range of him with a single word.

Though, that's probably a byproduct of him being a god.

"I feel the same towards my own people. This senseless cycle of slaughtering one another needs to end. This separate way of living has only filled our kind with bitterness and strife. We must end it. And, by end, I do mean truly end it. No cease fire or temporary truces. Just true peace."

"And how do you propose we do that? Its not as simple as just getting all the big players together at a table, shaking hands with each other and then we suddenly have peace. It suddenly doesn't just form out of thin air." Shemhazai chimed in, clearly disenfranchised with the blond's way of thinking.

"Actually, it can be that simple." Michael shot back. "Peace is abstract. There is no set formula for creating it. Trust me, I've searched for one. It comes about through the actions of those who support it. If we, and by we I mean including the devils, strive for true peace it can be easily acquired."

"You mean to make peace with the devils? The very creatures that cringe at the mention of our Father's name and grace? I rarely agree with Shem but I cannot help but hesitate at that idea." Baraqiel spoke.

"It is true peace if we exclude a third of our religion's factions? Despite our … differences, they must be included." Even Michael looked less than comfortable about the idea of including the devils. Though, if the man was prepared to put aside his distrust for his corrupted brothers and sister, the fallen angel's knew he was serious.

"Speaking of religion, are the false god and their worshipers going to be taking place within this 'peace'?" Shemhazai questioned. Azazel and Michael shared a brief look with each other before a chuckle left both of their mouths.

"Let's take it one, small, baby step at a time." Michael responds earned him a small laugh from Shemhazai and even a smirk from Baraqiel. The room quickly descended into silence, a much more comfortable one, as the brothers basked in each other's presences. It had been decades since the group of four had been together, so the experience was somewhat surreal for them all.

"So," Shemhazai was the one to break the momentary silence between the group. "How do you plan on getting the devils to listen? Just getting an audience with them would be hard enough. I know their current leader is considered liberal in comparison to the older generation, but I doubt they'll be jumping at the opportunity to speak with us, even under the guise of a truce.

"This is where my genius and I shine." Azazel spoke up for the first time in the meeting. His words earned him an eye roll from each of his brothers as the man stood from his chair with a mammoth-sized grin on his face. "I just so happened to have identified a factor shared among the three factions. And with this factor by our side, I'm sure the devils will be happy to listen to us."

"And what is this factor you speak of?" Baraqiel questioned, somewhat doubtful that a single object could convince the devils to speak with them.

"A little blond that Michael and you both have had some personal experience." Azazel looked beyond giddy as the words left his mouth. Shemhazai and Baraqiel physically flinched at the mention of their defeat while Michael managed to contain his reaction to a slight cough.

"You tried talking to that bastard too?" Shemhazai asked to Michael. The angel refused to meet his brother's stare as he instead focused his attention down onto the table while a blush began to spread across his cheeks.

"Yessir, he did! From what I heard, Naruto apparently broke into Heaven, got arrested and handcuffed then managed to break out. And guess who captured and then subsequently failed to recapture him? Our big bro, of course!" Azazel's loudly proclaimed. Michael looked close to dying as he lowered his head completely down onto the table. Shemhazai had left his chair in favor of floor as his laughter filled the room. Baraqiel was the only one who remained sat upright in his chair, his face set in its usual neutral mask.

"Our friend has been getting around a lot recently, especially with the devils. I plan to speak with him soon about our plan. Im almost positive he'll jumping in joy at the idea." Azazel added on.

"And what makes you so sure of that?" Baraqiel spoke, seeing as he was the only other person in the room that seemed capable of talking. Shemhazai was still on his floor, now clutching onto his stomach as his laughter flowed freely from his lips while Michael refused to lift his head from the table.

"Oh, trust me. I know. Me and him are best friends after all."

* * *

"What a day!" Naruto yawned out as he opened the front door to his house. Ophis immediately glided past him and made her way onto the couch where she opted to put her headphones on in order to block out the world. Koneko stood silently behind Naruto as the blond made his way into the living room.

"I think I'm going to call it a day." The shinobi said out loud as another yawn forced its way out of his mouth. His response came in the form of silence from his two housemates. The blond paid the silence no mind as he trotted his way over to his bedroom.

It didn't take the blond long to cross the distance between his living room and his bedroom. He unceremoniously kicked the door open to the room where he proceeded to take two steps into it before collapsing face first into the bed. The teen let out a loud, pleasurable groan as he rubbed his face into his blankets. After a long day of work, the softness of his bed was always a comforting feeling.

The blond was so engrossed in feeling up his blanket with his face that he didn't notice that Koneko had followed him to his room. He also didn't notice the uncanny look in her eyes as she activated the lock on the bedroom door.

 *********Lemon***********

The blond's relaxation was put to a rather short end when 70 pounds of raw Nekoshou slammed into his backside. All the air was knocked from within him as the sudden impact rang through his body.

"Koneko? What the hell?" Naruto strained out breathlessly. His voice was a hoarse mixture of shock and confusion as his girlfriend remained perched on his backside.

"Shut up." The girl offered up seconds before she began to grind her body against Naruto's body. Even with the shirt covering his backside, the blond became acutely aware of the girl's assets rubbing against his body. The lack of bra and the perkiness of the devil's breasts made it rather hard for the shop owner to ignore them.

Luckily for Naruto, he didn't have to suffer silently for long as Koneko raised her chest from his backside. His reprieve didn't last long as he quickly found himself flipped over and now facing the ceiling of his room. Koneko's neutral face filled his vision seconds before she descended her head towards his.

"Wh-" The blond didn't get a chance to say a single words before Koneko slammed her lips onto his. He could actually feel a bit of blood leaking from his lips due to the harsh impact. This didn't seem to turn Koneko away as the girl savagely attacked his mouth with her own. He felt like a piece of meat as she licked, bit and nipped away at him.

" _What the hell is happening?_ " Naruto thought his unspoken words as Koneko all but molested him. Don't get him wrong, he was thoroughly enjoying the situation as the shock of the situation faded, allowing him to fully enjoy the feeling of his girlfriend's body grinded against his own. More specifically, her crotch against his.

The pleasure the blond was feeling quickly rose in intensity when he felt a hand slip beneath waistband of his pants. Within seconds he felt his penis wrapped tightly in Koneko's grip. The girl's cold hands contrasted greatly with the intense heat radiating from his cock, sending intense shivers running through his body. The shivers grew in strength when the girl's calloused hand began to roughly run up and down the length of his penis. Her touch caused an immediate hardening of his member.

The blond almost let out a disappointment moan when he felt Koneko relinquish her grip on his penis. His erection was left painfully pressed against the confines of his pants while Koneko remained straddling his legs. The uncomfortable containment of his penis didn't last long when in the next second, Koneko quite literally tore away at his pants. The newly created hole in his trousers gave Koneko the perfect entryway to continue her her activities, something the girl was very aware of as she wrapped both of her compact hands around the length of her boyfriend's cock and began stroke.

Naruto was left absolutely speechless at the events taking place before him. The pleasure he was feeling from his girlfriend's actions only made it that much harder for him to think straight. Thinking became an even more difficult task when Koneko decided to lean her head down and lick at the head of his penis. The girl's rough and wet tongue left the blond moaning in pleasure as it pressed against his member. One lick turned to two then three and even more as Koneko unleashed a full tongue-based attack on him. The combined feeling of her hands are stroking his cock and her licking left Naruto grasping at his covers as he attempted to hold in his own moans.

"Ko-chan, I-" The blond's declaration was cut short as the young girl switched to sucking on the head of his penis. The dual stimulus proved to be a bit too much for Naruto as his penis began to twitch erratically within the confines of the Nekoshou's lips, signifying his release. Every drop of his cum was greedily sucked up by Koneko as she kept a near vacuum level of suction onto Naruto's penis. The blond's orgasm lasted for several seconds before ending with an unceremoniously loud groan from Naruto as he slumped deep into his bed. His breaths came in deep volleys as Koneko removed her lips from his penis, looking almost overly satisfied with herself as she remained holding onto her boyfriend's penis.

"I'm not complaining but where did that come from?" Naruto asked in between his breaths. The devil looked up from the bed and met eyes with the blond at his words. Without uttering a single word in reply, she restarted her jerking motion on Naruto's cock. Considering his recent orgasm and the girl's somehow masterful manipulation of her hands, the blond soon found himself once again staring at the ceiling, attempting to once again hold in his moans. His once limp penis was now fully erect as Koneko pleasured him.

The hand stimulation didn't last long as the Nekoshou unexpectedly released her hold. Caught off guard and a little disappointed at the action, Naruto's head shot back down to look at Koneko. By the time he did this, Koneko had somehow risen from the bed and was now crouching inches away from his exposed mid section. Sometime during the process of her pleasuring Naruto, she seemed to have got rid of the lower portion of her clothing, revealing her glistening, shaved pussy to the blond. If the boy hadn't been aroused beforehand, the image of his girlfriend's wet pussy inches away from his penis definitely got him there.

"This is mine." Naruto heard Koneko mumble before reaching down and grabbing a hold of Naruto's penis with one hand, aiming the organ straight at her entrance. With a large huff, the girl then slammed herself down onto the blond's hips, impaling herself with his penis. The duo took part in a shared moan as the feeling of being physically connected with each other swept through their body. They both remained still, Koneko, attempting to gather her breath from what she had just done and Naruto, still trying to come to grasp on the reality of the situation he found himself in.

Koneko was the first to recover and showed this by moving. The girl brought her hips up slightly, stirring Naruto's cock within her before slamming herself back down onto the blond's body. If the shinobi had been a normal man, he was sure that he would've been wincing in pain after that move. But instead, his years of pain endurance allowed him to push past the pain and enjoy the sensation of the small girl's rather tight pussy constricting along the lengths of his cock. The pleasurable sensation only increased in intensity as the girl became more bold in her movement, bringing herself higher off the bed and throwing in a forward and backwards movement as she rode his cock.

For the first few minutes of the 'ride', Koneko was in complete control. The girl had her hands pressed deep into Naruto's chest as she brought herself up and down on his dick. The girl's hair was a white, wild mess as it bounced freely along her face. An uncharacteristically jovial smirk found its way onto her face in between the moans that escaped her lips from the feeling of her boyfriend's cock burying itself into her over and over again. The usually quiet and slightly subservient girl was enjoying the feel of her boyfriend pinned beneath her grip as she pleasured herself, and him.

That feeling didn't last for very long when Naruto began to stealthily snake his hand towards the girl's erratic hips. Through the haze of pleasure brought on by the friction of his cock sliding against the walls of Koneko's pussy, the blond was able to regain some of his composure. While he was taking great enjoyment in soaking in the image of his white-haired girlfriend bouncing feverishly on top of his dick as her hair and breasts shook in an almost hypnotic fashion, the more natural and primal side of him demanded he take charge, especially after being manhandled so easily before.

Koneko was so caught up in her riding of Naruto that she didn't notice the teen had placed his hands on her hips. She quickly became aware of this fact as she was lifted off of her boyfriend's hips before being thrown onto the open bed beside him. An agitated snarl threatened to slip past her lips but the sound was quickly silenced when Naruto rolled on top of her. The blond wasted no time in resuming their action as he immediately drove his penis back into the girl. This time, Koneko was the one left clutching at the bed and letting out moans at the sensation of Naruto being buried waist-deep inside of her. With him inside of her, she felt satisfied, damn near complete. It was an ecstatic feeling and she wanted more of it.

Luckily for her, Naruto was happy to give more to her. With his hands tightly clutching hips, he began to thrust into her. Unlike before when she in was power, a new type of pleasure filled her. There was something innately attractive to her about the way the blond was fucking her. His usually calm and happy features took on a near animalistic quality. His hair fell over his head, framing his face damn near perfectly as he thrusted back in forth into her. She didn't know how but the blond was reaching places within her that she didn't believe possible. The overall sensation of the experience was overwhelming and quickly brought the girl on the verge of orgasming. So strong was the feeling that Koneko couldn't even verbalize, only being able to notify the blond through an increase of her moans. Her own lower body began to move against her will and meet Naruto's thrusts as it unconsciously attempted to reach the pure bliss of an orgasm quicker.

The combined efforts from his own and Koneko's fevered hip movements brought the girl's release rather quickly, just as she wished. The feeling was like a wave, washing down from her head down to her toes. Every single hair on her body stood on end. Her head swirled and went blank momentarily as her body literally shook in pleasure. Her mind was a haze of pleasure as she rode out the waves of her orgasm.

It was only barely through the haze of pleasure that she noticed her own boyfriend's impending orgasm. The sensitive walls of her pussy could feel his cock twitching and shaking erratically within her. His teeth were clenched tightly together as he pounded harder and faster into her. His grip on her became extremely tight as if he was attempting to squeeze every single drop of pleasure out of her. She knew what was coming and made a decision to help improve it.

Naruto was extremely caught off guard when Koneko's upper body shot off the bed straight towards him. Her forehead slammed into his own, causing a disorienting pain to shot through his head, but this was mostly ignored in favor for returning the heated kiss she planted on his lips. His quickly approaching release almost seemed to speed up within him as he clumsily but passionately kissed Koneko while thrusting into her. He was prepared to pull out of her and finish on top of her but that line of thought was put to a quick end when he felt the girl wrap her legs around his waist, locking the duo in place. The devil's full rook strength seemed to be focused in her legs at the moment as the blond found himself unable to budge. With his lower body trapped in place and his dick still trapped within the warm, wet confines of Koneko's pussy, he was left with only one option.

Naruto squished his eyes shut together as the full effects of his own orgasm shot through him. He could feel spurt after spurt of cum shoot out of him directly into the girl's awaiting vagina. The couple let loose loud moans in union as he released inside of her. The feeling was ecstatic, so much so that the couple stayed in that position minutes after Naruto's release ended.

 *******End of Lemon*******

Eventually Koneko couldn't keep her grip and collapsed back down to her bed, relinquishing her hold on the blond. Naruto was quick to follow her, falling directly next to her with a loud sigh. Silence filled the room as the duo laid staring at the ceiling. A small smile could be seen on both of their faces as they basked in the afterglow of their sex session.

"You two are loud." The moment of silence came to an extremely abrupt end as a voice cut through it. Naruto shot up from the bed in a near instant, his face a mask of surprise and shock at the voice. Koneko remained lying, her recently agitated look slowly migrating back onto her face due to the voice.

"What the hell, Ophis? WHY ARE YOU IN MY ROOM?" Naruto screamed at the god standing in his now open doorway. The dragon remained silent for several seconds as her eyes traveled down the length of the blond's exposed body. Her eyes seemed to settle on his now flaccid cock, something that Naruto took notice of as he quickly grabbed a pillow to cover himself with.

"I'm in here because you are loud. My headphones couldn't block out your noises." Ophis reply was simple as she redirected her gaze at Naruto's face. A blush quickly made its way there as the blond couldn't help but be slightly embarrassed at their loudness. Koneko didn't seem very embarrassed as she rose up from her laying position to look at Ophis. The god paid the girl little mind as she instead focused her attention on the room.

"It reeks of pheromones in here. You two are covered in it." The god stated monotonously as she glanced around the room. The blush on the blond's face grew even brighter with the statement. Koneko seemed to take pleasure in the god's words as she scooted closer to Naruto before beginning to rub herself against his leg.

"Good. Now you know what's mine and what is not yours." Koneko stated matter-of-factly. Her comment caused Ophis to lock eyes with the girl, initiating a stare off. Naruto was caught in the middle of it as the two lolis attempted to burn a hole into each other's head. Koneko's eyes were narrowed into a deadly sharp slit while Ophis' wide-eyed stare seemed to almost radiate agitation. Their stares clashed, creating a powerful mixture of tension that filled the room completely.

"I'm going back. Be more quiet." Ophis stated while keeping eye contact with Koneko. This continued for several seconds before the god abruptly turned her back on the duo and trodded out the room. Inwardly, the Nekoshou couldn't help but give herself a mental cheer. Even though she doubted the god would admit it, she had won that battle of wills. That was a huge achievement for her.

"What was that about?" Koneko rolled her eyes at her boyfriend's questions. Sometimes he really wasn't the smartest or the brightest or the most intelligent or even the most aware. She learned to overlook this though for his more appealing traits. His warmth, for example. That was why she yanked hard on his leg, causing him to lose balance and fall back onto the bed. As soon as his body hit the bed, she immediately crawled next to him and snuggled into his side.

Even with his certain level of cluelessness, Naruto knew what to do in a situation like this. He wrapped his arm around the girl's body and made himself comfortable within the sea of pillows and blankets. Knowing Koneko, he was going to be here for a while.

A small snore shot out of the girl, signifying her return to unconsciousness and making him release a small chuckle.

He was going to be here for a LONG while.

* * *

 **OMAKE:**

"That was so hot, Nya~" Kuroka muttered to herself as she stared down at her newly bought camera. Now, you may wondering what could keep the attention of the rather erratic Nekoshou. Well, the content in question was a recording of her younger sister and Naruto going at each other like a bunch of rabid animals.

She knew it was wrong. Spying on them in the first place went against a lot of moral codes. Spying on them when they were in the act of making love was definitely a huge 'no-no'. But, she couldn't help herself. At first, she had just been sitting at the window in order to catch a quick glimpse of the duo. She didn't plan for her perversion to overcome her senses. But when her little sister had jumped on Naruto and began to dry hump the boy, all hell broke loose. Whatever sense of morality she had went flying out the window as she happily recorded the duo's sex session.

" _Who knew Shiro-chan had it in her?_ " The Nekoshou was forced to wipe away a small stream of blood that was coming from her nose. For whatever reason, she couldn't stop herself from watching the video. It was as if she had become addicted.

"You want anyt-" Vali had come into Kuroka's room (better known as the spare bedroom he had graciously lent her while she stayed with him) with the intentions of offering her something to eat. Instead, before he was even able to ask the question, he found himself having to dodge an assortment of pillows and blankets from the now agitated girl.

"GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT!" Kuroka screamed as she threw everything within arm's reach of her. Vali quickly got the message and slammed the door shut to the her room, leaving her alone to freely enjoy her ill-obtained porn.

Well ... porn was a strong word. It was more like a family film. A really, really, really twisted family film that she would enjoy within the privacy of her bedroom. Alone.

* * *

 ** _AN: Writing a lemon is always an interesting experience. Its honestly a balance act of attempting to make the scene not come off as completely impossible/outlandish while also attempt to match up the personalities of the characters you are writing about. It can be a pain in the ass sometimes._**

 ** _Anyways, I hope all you guys and gals enjoyed the lemon. Its been 18 chapters since the last one so I felt you all were deserving of another one. Not much to say besides that. For those of you expecting a little more action and less sex, sorry about that. Just be happy in the fact that you probably won't have to deal with an unexpected lemon in a while. Besides that, thank you all for reading. Comment or PM me with any questions, concerns, comments, suggestions, etc. Have an amazing rest of the day. To y'all Americans out there, happy 4th of July. Sorry I missed Canada day :C_**


	23. Chapter 23

She was angry. She didn't know why, but she knew she was angry.

Anger was an emotion she rarely felt. She didn't feel many emotions, to be completely honest, but anger was one of the rarest. Even the Great Red couldn't push her far enough to make her truly angry. At best, all he was was an annoyance. An annoyance that would be swiftly taken care of.

But this … this wasn't just some mere annoyance. An annoyance could be ignored until it was properly taken care of. An annoyance didn't make you want to completely eradicate its existence from the face of the planet. An annoyance didn't conjure up a huge well of anger and frustration that took every single ounce of her rather limited willpower to control.

The Nekoshou. She was the indirect of her anger. She knew it and the girl knew it. The blatant looks that she was sending her reeked of satisfaction and relishment. The cat demon clung to Naruto's side like a leech, absorbing every single ounce of attention and affection he had to offer when in the shop. Even the blond's home was no longer considered a safe spot. The devil would not let go.

And the pheromones. That was the worst part. The air quite literally reeked with them. The majority of it came from the girl as she was basically humping Naruto's leg every available second. The moment they stepped in the blond's house, he was whisked away into his bedroom where they would remain for anytime to an hour to the whole night before they would exit the room, carrying along with them a whole new wave of pheromones with them.

She was doing it on purpose. Ophis knew it. She wanted to retaliate but she couldn't. Naruto wouldn't allow it. The blond would react violently if she did. She didn't need that … at least for now. She knew that for made her even angrier. She had never encountered a problem where there was no visible solution in place. Even with the Great Red, she could at least set up a plan to deal with him. This though, she had no plan. No work around. No alternate route.

All she could do was sit and endure.

She never thought she could hate sitting around so much.

* * *

"I'm so bored." Naruto couldn't help but mumble out loud as he watched his first customer in an hour walk out of the store. It was around mid-day, usually one of his busiest times due to it being lunch hours, and the shop was completely empty. Not a single soul could be seen within the store excluding the ever vigilant Ophis. Though, the debate on whether or not the god even had a soul was still up in the air. Koneko was at school under great reluctance. It took a massive amount of pushing from both him and Rias in order to ease the girl away from his side. Ophis' presence near Naruto made it rather hard for the Nekoshou to be away from him.

A wistful sigh slipped out of the boy's lips as he began to remember the benefits of Koneko's closeness. The two had literally been going at each other like rabbits for the past week. Every single free moment he had seemed to wrapped up with her. He definitely couldn't complain. He was able to experience as a whole new side of Koneko because of it.

A small smile gradually worked its on to his lips as he allowed his mind to wander. In all honesty, he had to say that he actually enjoyed days like these. They allowed him to take a step back and truly enjoy all that was around him. Even with the dragon god sitting feet away from him, most likely plotting his eventual demise, there was a sense of relaxation running through him and the store.

"Hey, Naruto Bo-" That relaxing feeling came to a sudden and unwanted end when the front doors to his shops slammed open. A moment later, Azazel unexpectedly came strutting into the store as if he owned the place. The man managed to take two steps into the store before his eyes landed on Ophis. Once his eyes landed on the god, the fallen angel froze mid-step. With one foot on the ground and the other in the air, he switched between looking at the god and at the unimpressed looking Naruto. This game of charades lasted a full minute before the man slowly turned around and exited the store without a word.

"That could've been a pain in the ass." Naruto thought to himself as he watched the man turn a corner and disappear from his sight. He honestly didn't think he had the patience to deal with the man's antics today. He was relaxing ,for once, and knew that with Azazel around, that state of mind would come to an abrupt end.

His relaxation was once again put to a stop when the fallen angel literally came flying back into his field of view. The man looked as if he was forcibly pushed back towards the shop as he picked himself up off the ground. He shot a smoldering glare towards something out of Naruto's line of sight before turning to face the blond's store. The man tentatively walked back up to the store before slowly pushing its front doors open.

"H-Hey there." The man's greeting was much more reserved this time around as he came into his store. His attention kept switching between the dragon and the blond, both of which had a clearly bored look on their face. Naruto's expression bordered along the edge of agitation as the fallen angel nervously stood in front of him.

"What do you want, Ero-datenshi?" Naruto's voice displayed his agitation much clearer than his face did. The derogatory insult was just the icing on the cake as he levelled a glare at the man. Despite all of this, Azazel showed no visible reaction. The fallen angel seemed too focused on the god present.

"Well … I was just wondering … Umm… You see…" Azazel's attention kept switching back over to Ophis while he spoke to Naruto. It quickly became apparent to the blond that the man felt uncomfortable in the girl's presence. It didn't exactly register why in his mind, at first, but the fact that the girl was an unfeeling dragon god soon came back to him. Sometimes, it was hard for him to remember that fact when the girl tended to act so docile around him. She acted more like an attentive child than anything.

"Can … Can we have this conversation somewhere a little more … private?" Azazel finally spat out a full sentence. Naruto's eyes refocused on the man and saw that he was almost sweating with anxiety. The fallen angel not-so-subtly gestured towards Ophis with his eyes in a clear sign that he didn't want to talk with her present. Naruto rolled his eyes at the man's behavior before turning his attention onto the god.

"Ophis, can you put on your headphones for a bit? We're about to have a conversation and this guy talks really loud." Azazel's breath caught in his throat when the blond addressed the god. His first reaction was to immediately berate the boy for being so casual in his speaking with the god. He was seconds away from doing so but was stopped when Ophis actually listened to Naruto. The girl actually relented by pulling out a pair of headphones and tuned out from the conversation.

"How in God's name did you get her to do that?" The fallen angel exclaimed the exact second after Ophis put on her headphones. Naruto raised an eyebrow at the man's question before glancing over towards the dragon.

"Y'know, I don't really know. She just listens to me." The blond offered up a shrug. He honestly couldn't and wouldn't even begin to decipher the god's behavior. On a daily basis, he was left guessing whether she was plotting his demise or just looking in his general direction. He had learned long ago to not look too deeply into her behavior and just go with it.

This didn't seem to be as easy to accept for Azazel as the man still looked flabbergasted. His attention kept switching in between the duo as if he was trying to solve some unseen puzzle. The puzzle would seemingly remained unsolved to the fallen angel as he instead decided to focus solely onto Naruto.

"When I first heard that Ophis was hanging around you, I was a little worried. Seems like I had nothing to worry about in the end." The man released a small chuckle after speaking. The blond's curiosity seemed to have been spiked sometime during the man's statement as he rose slightly in his seat.

"Heard? Who told you that she was here?" Naruto's statement earned him an incredulous look from the fallen angel. The man looked almost offended at his question.

"Who? Who haven't I heard it from is a much better question. She's Ophis. She's a god. She's THE dragon god. Everyone in the supernatural world got tipped off when she left the dimensional gap. The word spread like wildfire when she was sighted with you on multiple occasions." Azazel said like he was stating the obvious. And after hearing the man talk, Naruto was beginning to realize just how truthful his words were. For some odd reason, it had completely slipped his mind that Ophis hanging around him would attract so much attention. She was a reclusive god whose reputation was cemented by her introverted attitude centered around her home. Her willingly leaving her home to be with him would set off warning bells to … well everyone!

"That would explain all your recent guests." Kurama spoke up. Naruto brushed off his partner's sarcastic comment, deciding to deal with it later. In all honest, he didn't feel like he could keep a straight face in front of the fallen angel if he started arguing with the tailed beast.

"I knew that." The blond mumbled out. Azazel's subsequent expression clearly said he didn't believe a single word out the blond's mouth but he didn't verbally refute.

"Sure … back on topic!" The man's natural eccentric behavior seemed to come back to him. "I have something really important to talk to you about." Naruto raised an eyebrow, a sign that Azazel took as a green light to begin laying out his plan to the blond.

The plan took a full ten minutes for the fallen angel to explain. During those ten minutes, Naruto was left seriously doubting Azazel's sanity. The man's explanation involved weird code names, an array of nearly uninterpretable body movements and even a chart that he pulled seemingly out of nowhere. By the end of it, the blond could honestly say his head was hurting from attempting to process what he had been told.

"So … let me this straight." Naruto started off while rubbing his temples in a futile attempt to alleviate his headache. "You want me to talk with the leader of the devils, a guy I've really only met in passing, and convince him to sit down and have a meeting with you and Michael, the leaders of his enemy factions, so that you guys can make a peace treaty?" The blond finished, clearly exasperated.

"Yup!" Azazel responded cheerfully, clearly happy that the blond had managed to decipher his message. The blond released a long sigh as the man confirmed what he had feared. Yet another person was attempting to rope him into doing something he honestly wants no part of.

"I'm sorry, but I have to say no." If he hadn't found the man so annoying, Naruto would've felt a twinge of sympathy for the man purely based off the look on his face due to his denial. The fallen angel looked like a child whose favorite toy had just been broken before their very eyes. He looked heartbroken.

"W-what?" Azazel questioned. The man spoke as if he couldn't quite believe the words that had come from out the blond's mouth.

"I said I don't want to get involved in your over complicated tea party. " Naruto shot back.

"But its not complicated! All you have to do is tal-"

"No!" Naruto shouted as he shot up to his full height. "It's never as easy as just 'talking'. Peace isn't something that magically appears because of some talking. People have to unite. People have to work together. People have to trust one another for there to be peace. I've met at least one person from each of your faction and I can tell you, things won't be as easy as you're making them out to be. Trust me, I want peace too, but you all have nothing in common!"

"Ah!" Azazel exclaimed. "Thats where you're wrong. We do have something in common. All the factions have one common factor. And, it's you!" The man let loose the revelation with a wild grin stretched across his face. If Naruto hadn't been confused before, he definitely was now due to what the fallen angel had just said.

"What the hell does that even mean?" Naruto exclaimed. Azazel's grin only seemed to spread wider across his face, causing the blond's heart to sink slightly. He didn't know why but the expression on the fallen angel's face filled him with dread and annoyance. Mostly annoyance.

"Well, you've met and personally spoken with the leader of each faction and you've managed to tame Ophis, an integral figure in each of our faction. Plus, your status as a nature-based god lends you credibility." The man rattled off as if he was talking about something as common as the weather. If he saw the jaw drop Naruto performed at the mention of his 'godhood', he didn't show it.

"G-god? Nature-based god? What the hell are you talking about?" Naruto exclaimed, clearly lost. What the fallen angel was spouting made no sense to him. He wasn't a god. He had never said he was a god. He never told anyone he was a god. So, why the hell did the fallen angel just call him a god?

"Oh, you're definitely a god. Naruto, the God of Nature, the tamer of the Infinite Dragon God and the Candy Sage of Kuoh, healing the earth one tree at a time. Has a nice ring to it, right?" Azazel spoke with a shit-eating grin etched onto his face. His face looked seconds away from splitting as it tried in vain to contain his smile. His teeth damn near shone in the overhead light within the shop. That was how bright his smile was.

"T-this makes no sense. I'm not a god. You know I'm not a god!" Naruto pointed an accusatory finger at the man. Despite the man's oddities, the blond had trusted him enough not to make bold statements like the one he was currently making. Seems as if his trust was misplaced.

"Well, of course I know." Azazel casually stated, sending the teen even deeper into his rabbit hole of confusion. "But everyone else doesn't. And I plan on using that to our advantage. Everyone else sees you as a new god, the starter and leader of a brand new pantheon. Your taming of Ophis has kept them off your back attack wise, but alliance wise is a whole different story. You're a hot commodity and a big bargaining chip."

To say Naruto was shocked would be a massive understatement. His mind was still attempting to comprehend just what exactly the fallen angel was trying to get across to him. The words coming out his mouth were absolutely ludicrous.

"No. No no no no no no." Naruto repeated the word while shaking his head. "I am not getting sucked into this. I don't want any part of it. Keep me out of it!"

"Why not, Mr. 'I want peace too'? This is the peace you're looking for! And, all you have to do to get is talk to a few people, shake a few hands, maybe gain a worshipper or two and that's it!" The man read off the list as if he was reading some recipe instructions. Naruto honestly couldn't believe what the fallen angel was saying.

" **He does have a point. This could be the way to peace that you've been looking for.** " Kurama spoke up from his silence. The blond was left absolutely flabbergasted by the tailed beast's statement. Now, even his partner was backing up the craziness that was coming out of Azazel's mouth. This wasn't making sense.

"I … I can't believe this is actually happened." Naruto murmured to himself as his mind began to catch up with the reality of the situation. This wasn't some weird hallucination brought on by exhaustion or sickness. This wasn't a dream. This was actually happening.

" **Stop being so over dramatic. The least you can do is give it a try**." The tailed beast mentally spoke out. The incredulous look plastered across the blond's face made it quite clear how he felt about that idea.

" _But a god? A god? I can't pretend to be a god! I can barely lie!_ " Naruto mentally exclaimed, trying his best to weasel his way out of the situation. Now that he knew that Kurama was in agreement with the idea, the blond knew he had to convince his partner of the opposite if he enjoyed his sanity. The tailed beast would take a sick amount of pleasure of mentally torturing him with a series of guilt trips and rants.

" **You don't have to do anything differently. According to the fallen angel, everyone already believes you to be a god. Just continue being your usual annoying self and things should go smoothly**." The beast's insult went mostly under the radar as his partner attempted to analyze his words.

Honestly, a large part of him wanted no part in whatever the fallen angel was planning. The man had already proved himself to be very perverted and annoying and Naruto had a feeling that getting involved with him would only make it much much worse.

"C'mon buddy. All you have to do is pretend a little bit and then you'll save the lives of a ton of little devil and angel children. I don't see anything wrong with that." Azazel's voice literally dripped with enough sweetness to make the blond internally gag. Despite the over exaggeration on the fallen angel's part, Naruto could still sense a bit of truthfulness in his words. Even if there was a small, barely infinitesimal chance that he could help bring about some variant of peace, he had to at least try, right?

It couldn't be that hard. Trying wouldn't hurt, right?

* * *

Y'know, being a god wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. It came with a lot of perks. People tended to listen to him more often than not nowadays. Though, that may be partly because Ophis was constantly by his side as a reminder of the power he had. Only a truly powerful being could "tame the dragon god".

Naruto rolled his eyes at the thought as he strummed his fingers against the table. If only people knew the true relationship behind him and Ophis. They would be looking at him much differently if they did. But, they didn't and them not knowing tended to make things work out much smoother, so why ruin something good?

For example, actually setting up an audience with Sirzechs could've been a real pain in the ass if he didn't have Ophis by his side. Striding into Rias' office and demanding an audience with her brother all by himself could've ended in a much more different way. With Ophis by his side, the girl was heavy pressed to demand his request. He felt a bit bad for basically intimidating the girl into doing it but figured he would make it up to her later.

The meeting with Sirzechs had been interesting. Surprisingly, the man had decided to meet him at his shop. The reason for that was most likely he didn't want the chance of Ophis parading around in devil territory. Who knew what type of damage the girl could unleash if someone managed to agitate her?

The devil had been actually very receptive to the idea of a sort of peace between the faction. During this meeting, Naruto managed to gauge the true character behind the goofy mask Sirzechs tended to wear. The man was a sincere, family loving, peace seeking guy who would do anything to protect his family and friends. Even if that meant slaying anything that threatened their health. But, if he could avoid murdering people, he certainly would. And this meeting would be the perfect chance to avoid it!

Naruto sighed. That had been the easy part. Picking a venue for the peace talks was the hard part. Each faction refused to go into each other's territory in the fear of being ambushed or back-stabbed. That level of distrust had been a somewhat disheartening sign to the blond about how the meeting would go but the factions' persistence on the meeting actually happening managed to keep his spirits somewhat lifted.

In the end, Kuoh Academy was picked as the venue. Each faction had somewhat of an influence in the city so it only seemed fit. Naruto had petitioned for the meeting to take place within his shop, since it was going to take place within Kuoh, but that idea had been quickly shot down. He was still mourning the loss of the level of sales he would've gotten.

"Naruto-kun!" The voice carried across the room into the blond's awaiting ears, causing him to release a groan. He turned his head towards the voice and saw an excited Azazel bounding his way towards him. A reluctant looking Vali was right behind the man. The teen looked as if he was trying his best to look anywhere but at Naruto.

"Hello, my friend! Are you excited? Can you feel the buzz in the air? Today is a great day!" Excitement literally seemed to be oozing from the man as he spoke. The grin stretched across his face was telltale sign of just what exactly the man was feeling. The teenager standing next to him was the exact opposite. Vali looked as if he wanted to be anywhere but here. The blond honestly couldn't blame him. If he was forced to deal with Azazel for an extended period of time, he may have also grown into a loathsome prick.

"Yeah … it's weird seeing all these people together." The blond responded as he eyed the roomful of people. The room was obviously segregated. Even under the notion of a peace talk, tensions still existed among the factions. Devils stood with devils, angels stood with angels and fallen angel's stood with fallen angel's. The only exception was Michael who could be seen leaving the room with Issei in tow. This was the first sort of inter-faction that the blond had seen, making him highly curious. The leader of a faction interacting with a low-class devil was something that certainty deserved his attention.

"So … where's your .. uhh .. little buddy?" Naruto's attention was brought back to a much more nervous Azazel. The man, for some odd reason, seemed to be sweating as he looked around the blond nervously. His current attitude was a completely 180 from the one he possessed only seconds ago. It didn't take much mental effort for the shinobi to figure out what exactly had driven the fallen angel into such a mood.

"She's around. I thought it was best if she stayed away from the meeting." Naruto said as he eyed the man. Azazel already looked like he was ready to flee from the mere possibility that Ophis could be here. If he had shown up with the dragon unannounced, he was sure that the peace meeting would turn into an all out brawl.

"Smart decision." Vali spoke up for the first time. Naruto's gaze washed over the teen as an idea struck him.

"By the way, I'm docking your pay." The look on Vali's face almost sent the blond down to the ground, clutching his stomach in laughter. The devil looked absolutely flabbergasted at the revelation that his wages had been cut once again.

"What! You can't do that! I'll be making below minimum wage." He exclaimed.

"Well, maybe if you showed up for work more than once a week this type of stuff wouldn't happen." Naruto stated flippantly while inwardly holding in a laugh. The shocked silence that greeted him only made the situation that much better to the blond. There was something very entertaining about messing with his fellow teen.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything." All at once, all three males turned their head towards the new voice.

"Sirzechs-san!" There he goes again. Azazel's personality did an exact 180 in the presence of the devil. The playfulness that was present only a second ago had disappeared to make room for a more respectful demeanor. It was alarming and impressive to Naruto to see the man switch between personalities so smoothly.

"Maybe he has multiple personalities." The blond mused to himself as he slyly eyed the fallen angel. That would actually explain a lot. It was a much better explanation than just assuming that the man was crazy. Though, that was still as much as an option as multiple personalities.

"Are you ready, Naruto-san? The meeting will be starting soon." The blond was snapped out of his thoughts by Azazel's voice. He saw that he now had the three other male's eyes on him. He instinctively gave a nod in response while trying his best to hold in his sigh. He honestly wasn't ready for the conference, but there was no point in delaying. The sooner it started, the sooner it would be over with.

And, it was a peace meeting, after all. It couldn't go too bad, right?

* * *

Gasper felt … awkward. More awkward than usual. Being a crossdressing, devil with the ability to freeze time definitely made for some awkward situations. But being stuck in a room with Ophis and Koneko definitely topped all of that.

The boy was sat in his box, directly between the two girls. Each of them were sat at separate ends of the room. From their positions they were sending each other skin searing glares. Even though he wasn't the target of either glare, Gasper was feeling the heat from them. It made him wanted to retreat even further inside of his box just to escape them.

"A-Ah … You guys are sca-" The boy's complaint was put to a quick stop as both girls shifted their glares onto him. Under their combined might, Gasper stood no chance. He let out a loud yelp before diving head first into his box. His hiding spot was a little small, however, forcing the lower half of his body, more specifically his ass, to stick upwards into the air.

With the target of their glare now in hiding, the girls shifted their attention back onto each other. For once, Ophis actually had a spark of emotion on her face. The fact that that emotion was anger didn't exactly bode well for the occupants of the room. On the other hand, Koneko's normally neutral mask was twisted into a slight smirk as she met the dragon's gaze. She didn't know why, but she couldn't help but feel a slight sense of satisfaction at the god's agitation. Knowing that she was the reason behind it made the sensation even better.

And so, the silent struggled continued. Whole minutes passed without a single sound being uttered within the room. Gasper remained buried within his box, managing to avoid most of the tension within the confines of his hiding hole. A strange sense of peace settled over the room as everything remained still.

That all came to a sudden halt when the lights in the room unexpectedly switched off. Gasper let out a light gasp as he rose his head from the inside of his box while both girls settled for simply blinking.

"W-what is going on?" Gasper stuttered as he nervously looked around his room, his red eyes almost seeming to shine in the dark room. Koneko stood from her seat and began to walk over towards the boy as her ears began to pick up noises come from outside the room's entrance. Ophis remained silently sitting as she observed the duo.

A second later, the door to the room exploded in a shower of splinters, forcing both Koneko and Gasper to take cover. Before the duo could even react, two streams of light shot into the room and struck them. Within an instant, the duo found themselves pinned against the opposite wall as a series of seals covering their limbs.

Once the two devils were incapacitated, several cloaked figures entered the room. The figures were obviously all female. The very deep cleavage revealing cloaks they wore made that clear. They wore a hood that covered the majority of their faces and had the design of three golden eyes running down it. The women almost seemed to glide into the room as they entered one by one, bringing with them a small light source as they approached the restrained devils.

"Gasper Vladi." One of the females spoke as she stood in front of the young devil. The dhampir released a small whimper when the woman reached out her hand and began to trace his cheek. Koneko was glaring holes into the woman as she touched her fellow peerage member.

"We have come for you." The woman spoke again as she let her arm fall back to her side. She took a step away from the devil before aligning in a circle with the rest of the group. Once the circle was formed, the group of females joined hands as they began to utter a strange chant.

"Uhh … excuse me." Gasper weakly muttered moments into the chant. The devil's words went completely ignored as the cloaked group continued their chant, their voices growing louder and louder with each passing second. A strange glow began to form around the circle as their voices picked up.

"Excuse me…" Gasper spoke even louder this time. His voice earned him a slight moment of hesitation from the group but didn't halt them in their action as they continued to chant. The light that was forming around them took the form of a halo as its brightness filled the room. Gasper and Vali were both forced to turn their heads in order to shield their eyes from the light.

"Excuse me!" Gasper yelled at the top of his lungs.

"What do you want, child?" The closest female yelled right back at him. The dhampir gestured with his eyes and head to the opposite side of the room. The cloaked figure hesitated for a moment before following the boy's pointed look.

With the halo of light hanging above their heads, the group of females could now clearly see the full contents of the room. The light provided from the halo shone bright in the room, revealing Ophis' now standing form. The god was sending an indignant glare at the group.

"O-Ophis-Sama." The woman stuttered out in unison under the dragon's glare. This was not supposed to happen. Ophis wasn't supposed to be anywhere near this meeting. Cao Cao had ensured them of that. This wasn't good. Not at all.

"Uzumaki won't like this." Ophis said as his eyes swept over the two devils. Her gaze lingered on Koneko for the longest before returning to the group of females. "You all made a mistake."

"Wh-" The woman's pleas went silent as she faded out of existence. There was no warning, no clue, no foreshadowing. One moment she was there and the next she simply wasn't. The woman around her jumped back in shock as they watched her empty cloak flutter to the ground without her in it. Their eyes remained on the piece of fabric for several seconds before reluctantly moving back towards the dragon god. In the time they had taken their eyes off of her, a large black snake had manifested herself and had coiled itself around the girl's body.

"I, shall end you all for him."

* * *

The meeting was going well. Surprisingly well. Naruto had expected there to be much more tension between the groups, but they had all proven him wrong. The conversation had been civilized, much more than the Kage summit that took place within his home world.

Though, to give his world credit, the circumstances were much more intense. At that point, Akatsuki had been methodically picking off Jinchuuriki one by one. A superpower coalition of S-rank, land altering ninja still capturing the largest threats to the shinobi world still wasn't enough to completely sway each of the Kage immediately. Only after revealing Madara Uchiha's name did the villages collectively decide to team up. And even then, if it wasn't for Sasuke's interference, that may of never happened.

"Stupid stubborn old people." Naruto thought to himself as his eyes scanned the room. Despite his thoughts and the fact that the people in the room was exponentially older than the Kage, things couldn't of been going better. Michael made for an excellent mediator despite any bias the man might have. The man's voice sounded as if it was woven with a genjutsu as its flowed out of his lips. It gave the room a sense of serenity that made the discussions go much smoother.

"And with this comes the free exchange of information…." Michael's voice faded in and out of focus to the blond as he observed the occupants of the room. In all honesty, he wasn't very interested in the exact logistics of the alliance. It was all too technical for him. And, this was only a meeting. He could only imagine what terror would occur when they actually sat down to make a proper draft.

Naruto's attention was snatched up when he felt his chair shift a little beneath him. His eyes flashed to his right where he was greeted to the sight of an uninterested Shemhazai staring up at Michael. The fallen angel looked beyond bored as he tried to keep his attention focused on his brother. Because of this, Naruto crossed him off the suspect as he turned to his right to face his next culprit.

It didn't even take a second for the blond to deduce that the person to his right was the culprit. The massive grin on her face was a dead give-away, but the fact that she was also staring directly at him was a pretty big hint as well.

"Hi there!" The girl sounded as if she was trying to whisper, but it instead came out as a hushed shout. Her exclamation earned her the agitated glare of several people around her, causing her to turn towards them to offer them a sheepish apology. While she was occupied with her apologies, Naruto took some time to observe her.

The most notable thing about the girl was what she was wearing. The girl was dressed in something you would see in a children's TV show. The pink clothing, extremely short skirt and thigh high socks gave her a very childlike vibe. The blond could even see a wand tucked away in the waistband of her skirt. That was all he got to examine before the girl swung back towards him with her grin back in place.

"Sorry 'bout th-" That was all the strange girl got to say before the peace conference came to a grinding stop. All at once, every person within the room went deathly shallow. Some looked pale, some looked afraid and some had actually fainted. The general mood of the room did a complete 180 within a single moment. And, it was all because of the wave of monstrous energy that washed over them all.

"Of all days…" It didn't take much for the blond to deduce who was the source of the energy wave. The same could be said for the other occupants of the room as they all began to look over towards them. Their sudden attention on him confused the blond for a single moment before he remembered the nickname the supernatural community had decided to bestow upon him.

Ophis' tamer. If only they knew how ironically messed up that statement was. The blond would've given them all a roll of his eyes if he hadn't disappeared in a golden flash moments before.

In the brief moment it took Naruto to run from the meeting room to the room where he knew Ophis and Koneko, the blond prepared himself for a lot of things. While he didn't completely trust the god, he had enough faith within her to leave her alone with his girlfriend for the duration of the conference. His mind raced with possibilities of what could have possibly made Ophis display some of her powers. It was because of this paranoia that Naruto managed to push himself to cross the distance of the entirety of the campus in less than a second.

When the blond arrived at the room, he was relieved to see that Koneko was alright, albeit pinned against the wall by some strange seal. Right beside her was a feminine figure that the teen could only guess was Gasper, Koneko's best friend and Kuoh's resident dhampir. What he was surprised to see was the state Ophis was in. The god didn't looked agitated or upset or even tired. She looked as calm and placated as ever as she stood in the center of her room, her back facing the restrained Koneko and several mysterious cloaks that were on the floor.

"I took care of your issue." Was Ophis' greeting to the blond. Briefly ignoring the girl's words, Naruto did a quick scan of the room to try and piece together what exactly had went on in the room. When his mind failed to come up with a possible scenario, his eyes instinctively went over to Koneko to see if she was okay. Ophis seemed to notice his gaze as she turned her head to look at the Nekoshou. The god then preceded to give a small tilt of her head in the devil's direction. The next instant, the sound of glass shattering filled the air as the seals restraining both Koneko and Gasper shattered. Koneko managed to land lightly on her feet while her partner was much more unfortunate as he landed flat on his face.

"Ko-" The blond was interrupted once again as a bright light filled the room, provided by its only window. All occupants of the room turned their head towards the window and saw a massive seal filling the entirety of the sky over Kuoh. Out of the seal came spewing hundreds of women dressed in cloaks similar to the ones laying on the ground. Their intentions remained hidden for only a brief second before they began to reign down hell upon the school, shaking it to its foundation.

"What the hell is going on?" Naruto questioned as the women continued their attack. Unknowing to the blond, Ophis was having similar thoughts as she examined the marks on the women's clothing. She had been slightly suspicious when the group had tried attacking the half vampire and the person she had dubbed 'Uzumaki's leech'. Now though, with the mass appearance of the women and the massive seal in the sky, she had a clear picture of what exactly was going on.

"Uzumaki, I'm going outside." That was Naruto's only warning before the god threw herself at the window. She went crashing through it and into the open air as she flew towards the seal in the sky, leaving a dumbfounded Naruto alone in the room with his girlfriend and Gasper.

"Naru-kun." The blond's attention was once again stolen, this time by his girlfriend. He turned to face the girl only to have her appear in his face seconds before she wrapped him in a massive hug. The male could almost feel his bones begin to creak beneath the pressure the young girl was putting out as she remained wrapped onto him. The hug lasted for several seconds before Koneko reluctantly pulled away.

"Go. I'll stay here and protect Gasper. You go help." The devil left no room for argument as she stared into her boyfriend's eyes. The blond hesitated only for a second before nodding in return. Despite how much he wanted to stay to ensure nothing would happen to Koneko, he knew he couldn't do so with Ophis out there. He had never seen the god so assertive before, so he knew that whatever had managed to get the god like that was serious enough for him to get involved. So, with that in mind, the blond quickly summoned four clones within the room before disappearing out of the Ophis made hole in the window, leaving Gasper and Koneko alone with the clones.

"That … he was your boyfriend?" Gasper questioned as he eyed one of the clones. Koneko offered her friend a slight nod as she watched Naruto bound his way towards the campus' courtyard.

"Wow … he really is as cute as you said." A quick glare from Koneko told Gasper that he had crossed a line. So he did the smart thing and shut his mouth.

Still, that didn't mean what he said wasn't true.

* * *

She was beginning to realize just how irritating humans could be. Naruto had briefly introduced her to that concept but the magicians present had cemented that fact in her head. Humans were annoying. They were a pest, a thorn in her side that served as a constant agitation. She didn't like pests.

The magicians pouring out of the seal belonged to the Hero faction, a faction within the Khaos Brigade. The women manifesting out of the seal wore the symbol of the Magician's Council, only confirming Ophis' line of thought. She hadn't ordered any sort of attack. And, only one person within her organization had the authority to command the magicians.

"Cao Cao." Ophis wasn't too surprised at the revelation. She had always suspicious of the man. She knew he didn't have enough power to even begin to challenge her, but his intentions for joining the group had never been clear. This attack being spurred on by the magicians only helped her to realize just how untrustworthy he truly was. And because of that, he would be dealt with.

But first, the magicians. She could already see the devils, angels and fallen angels pouring out of the school building most likely to confront the magician invasion. She wasn't worried by their presence. By the time they prepared any sort of counter attack, she would've dealt with the invasion first. That was something to be sure of.

The first magician that fell victim to the god's agitation didn't even get to experience her death. By the time she realized what was happening, she was already waist deep within a snake that Ophis had formed from her body. The ethereal creature devoured the women in a single gulp before immediately heading towards the nearest magician, its innards immediately disintegrating the body of the women it ate.

With her snake set loose on its own personal war path, Ophis turned her attention on to the seal. By this point, most of the magicians were still ignorant to her presence. The three factions and their leaders seemed to pick up on it as they quickly slowed in their advancement. It was probably for the best as Ophis made her next move.

There was no warning. No flashing lights or bells or whistles were there to warn the magicians what exactly they had walked into. One second, Ophis was floating in the air several hundred yards away from them. In the next second, the god was still there, but instead of her human form, the girl had opted for her dragon form. Each and every magicians' attention was captured by the towering dragon that had suddenly materialized next to them. With the dragon's appearance came the oppressive presence as an almost unbearable pressure settled upon the shoulders of everyone present. The god was letting her energy leak out of her in spades in order to paralyze her prey. She didn't want any of them to escape.

A swipe of her arm. That was all it took to end the lives of dozens of the magicians. Her dragon body responded to her movements, moving its arm in perfect tandem with her while snatching up magicians in the process. The women that didn't die due to first contact with the god's energy soon found themselves crushed against the dragon's arm and the ground.

The women that had managed to stay out of range of Ophis' first attack quickly came to the realization of what was happening. And with that realization in mind, it didn't take them long to rationalize a plan to retreat. Unfortunately for them, they had already signed their lives away. A retreat was no longer an option. Death was the only thing that would greet them.

Before any of the humans could make a move, Ophis raised her draconian head into the sky and released a roar. The women closest to her released shrill screams as the sheer volume of the roar left them clutching their heads in pain. Blood soon began to leak from their ears as the humongous level of decibels shattered the inner workings of their ears. This mattered not as the god's roar had a secondary effect. The energy contained within the sound wave was strong enough to completely shatter the Magician's seal, cutting off any more from entering and keeping the rest trapped within Kuoh.

This earth shattering realization came upon the remainder of the magicians all too quickly as their organized retreat turned into a free-for-all. But, it was too late. Their escape route had been cut off and now they were truly at the mercy of the god. Wordlessly, thousands of snakes stretched out from the god's body. The hideous creatures hissed in unison, filling the air with a horrendously dreadful sound before descending upon their prey.

The scene was brutal, especially to the group of supernatural creatures standing on the sidelines bearing full witness to it. Most of the younger generation shielded their eyes in order to avoid watching the snakes feast upon the fleeing magicians. Even though they managed to shield their sight, they couldn't block out the sound of death and hissing that filled the air. The older generation looked stared solemnly forward. They had grown use to seeing this type of carnage during the war. They held no sympathy for the enemy force. Michael and his comrades were the only ones among them that dared to show any sort of remorse for the death of the magicians.

The slaughter lasted only the briefest of minutes. Ophis was terribly efficient at killing it seemed. Nothing was left remaining after her rampage as she turned to face the group, causing them all to collectively tense up. After watching the god take down a legion of magicians. Human or not, anyone that could kill that many people that quickly should be feared. And not a single one of them wished to go up against that type of fighting force.

Luckily for them, it would not come to that. Before any moves could be made by the god, Naruto dropped down in front of the group, putting himself in between them and the dragon. Ophis met eyes with the blond as a silent conversation began between the two. The three factions waited with bated breath as 'god' and god stared into each other's eyes. The silence was tense as the weight of a possible attack from the dragon hung over all their heads.

It never came down to that. Somehow, without the exchange of a single word, Naruto managed to calm the dragon. In a fluid motion, the energy that made up Ophis' dragon construct retracted back inside her body, leaving her floating freely in the air. The girl slowly descended back down towards the ground before making her way towards the blond. The duo shared another brief conversation with each other that went unheard by the group. The conversation ended with Ophis sending a brief glance towards the factions' leaders before returning her attention to Naruto. The girl offered the teen a small nod before disappearing from all of their sights.

Naruto sighed as Ophis disappeared from his sight. The dragon had supposedly returned to hsr dimension to deal with some issues. He could only assume that it had something to do with the invasion force. He could actually sense a large amount of agitation within her during their brief conversation. He felt bad for whatever poor bastard managed to frustrate her.

"Naruto, my boy!" The blond felt his own agitation grow at the sound of a familiar voice. He had to hold in yet another sigh when he felt someone land next to his side. Before he could utter a single word, he found himself wrapped in a one-armed hug by a certain fallen angel.

"What an amazing display! Absolutely fantastic. This is exactly what we needed." The fallen angel was absolutely exuberant as he clung onto Naruto. The smile on his face could actually be felt by the blond as he smashed his fast against the blond's.

"What the hell are you talking about? I didn't even do anything." Naruto grunted out as he tried to detach himself from the man. He found the task to be much easier said than done as Azazel kept a vice-like grip on him. It took a full ten seconds of struggling before he was finally able to free himself. He turned to face the man, only to have to hide his eyes from how bright his smile was.

"Didn't do anything? Oh boyo, you have absolutely no idea." Azazel stated as she swung his arm over the blond's shoulders. Before the teen could wiggle his way out of the one-armed hug, the Grigori leader spun the teen around so that he was facing the rest of the group.

"Ladies and gentlemen, there we have it. The illustrious nature-wielding, dragon god taming, candy selling god in action. What a show!" The man exclaimed while throwing his free arm high into the air. Silence permeated the air after the man's statement, causing Naruto to twitch due to the awkwardness of the situation. The gaze of over twenty supernatural creatures, some being the leaders of their factions while others having enough strength and authority to rival the Kages of his world, was something he didn't particular enjoy nor wanted. He felt scrutinized underneath the gaze. It was as if they were attempting to peel away the very layers of his character in order to see his true nature. It felt weird. And honestly, a bit creepy too.

That feeling slowly went away as a single clap broke through the silence. Everyone turned their head towards the noise to see Michael clapping his hands. The angel stood at the forefront of their little group and had his eyes focused directly onto Naruto. The two blonds met eyes as a sense of understanding seemed to overcome them both. The angel offered his fellow blond small nod just seconds before the remainder of the group erupted into a fit of clapping. The blond mentally filed away the angel's gestured for later as Azazel began to push him towards the group. That small nod meant a lot to him. It was good to know he would no longer be on the leader's of heaven badside.

"What an amazing display!"

"I've never seen something like that before."

"That kicked so much ass!"

"Absolutely outstanding!" Naruto felt a blush attempting to work its on way onto his cheeks as the group bombarded with compliment after compliment. Even after all his time in both his world and this one, he still hadn't grown use to being complimented. He had his stunted childhood to thank for that one.

"If we're finished with this senseless chatter…" Baraqiel spoke up over the multitude of voices, silencing them all instantly. The fallen angel's eyes swept over the entirety of the group before eventually stopping on Naruto. "I believe we have yet to finish our talk. I advise we do it quickly so that we may properly deal with the damage that occurred."

His words seemed to snap the group back into focus as they realized the truth in his words. Collectively they began to make their way back into the slightly damaged building, sweeping Naruto up with them in the tide of people. Just before the blond could get swept into the building by the crowd, he spotted two people making their way away from the crowd. It only took his mind a second to recognize the leading girl as Akeno and the redhead following her was Rias. His mind immediately flashed back to Asia and the girl's desperate plea for him to help her help Akeno.

It didn't take much debating for the blond to quickly summon and replace himself with one of his clones. His senses of chivalry and the immense boredom he felt sitting in on the peace talks were plenty of motivation to ditch the things. So he deftly made his way towards the fleeing girls, leaving his clone at the mercy of the supernatural hoard and the mind numbing boredom that the meeting would surely bring.

* * *

"Akeno, please wait!" Rias pleaded as she followed after her queen. The black haired was charging away from the girl at a rapid pace. She wasn't listening to a single word from Rias as she kept her pace up. The redheaded devil seemed to realize this as she picked up her own pace to catch up.

"Akeno. Please just list-" Rias managed to catch up to her Queen and reached out to touch the girl. Akeno swung around and swiped at the girl's outstretched hand, smacking it aside. The heiress stood dumbfounded for several seconds as she took notice of Akeno's expression. Tears were spilling down the girl's cheeks as she futilely attempted to stop them from leaving her eyes. Rias' expression softened at the sight of her friend's face.

"Akeno…" The girl's voice was much softer as she approached her Queen again. This time, Akeno didn't attempt to run. The girl stood stock still with her arms down by her side and her head facing the ground as the redhead stood close to her. The girl gave no visible reaction when Rias slowly reached out her arms to envelope the girl in a hug. But, ever so slowly, the girl's emotions began to leak out from beneath her emotionless mask. Her shoulders began to shake erratically as several sobs escaped her. The sobs turned into a full blown cry as she finally let go.

"He stood there … he said nothing… he didn't even acknowledge me… My mom died because of him and he couldn't even look me in the eye." Akeno spilled her heart out in between her panicked sobs. Rias was at a lost for words as her Queen spoke. All she could do was hold on tighter while the sadist continued to cry.

"It's … it's going to be okay…" Rias said softly in an attempt to placate her friend. That seemed to be the wrong thing to say as it got the exact opposite reaction out of the girl. Akeno pushed herself away from the redhead as her tears continued their steady trail down her cheeks.

"No! It's not going to be okay. It's never going to be okay. You don't understand! His blood, my mom's murder's blood, is in me. That will never change. I'm dirty because of him. I'm tainted." The girl's voice dropped down to an almost silent whisper at the end of the tirade. Rias truly was at a lost for words now. The redhead was stunned. She had never heard the girl so upset before. It left her confused.

Even through her confusion, Rias still wanted to help her friend. She took two hesitant steps towards Akeno in order to engage the distraught girl once again. Her Queen was having none of this, however, as the girl quickly summoned her wings in response. Before Rias could say anything, Akeno took off into the sky. By the time the redhead could even think to follow her, the girl was far out of her line of sight.

"Akeno…" Rias whispered as she stared wistfully into the sky. So focused was she on her friend that she didn't even notice a flash of gold that ignited seconds after the girl flew away.

She was alone. The forest gave her that. Away from him, away from Rias, away from people. It didn't feel nearly as satisfying as she wished it to be. She felt more empty than ever. But, at least she didn't have to deal with people anymore.

She knew was wrong. She would eventually have to return. Whether he would still be there or not wouldn't matter. Her anger and frustration wouldn't just disappear. She couldn't continue her facade anymore. She couldn't pretend to be happy with who she was. Not anymore. Not with his blood inside of her.

Akeno sighed as she ran a hand over her wings. They were tainted just like the rest of her. Anger rushed through her system as removed her hand from her wings. A spear made up of her demonic energy manifested within her grip seconds.

The devil stared angrily down at her wings with her spear in hand. She knew what she was about to do was wrong, but she needed it. She needed to be free of him some way. Even if it was only for a few hours before her regeneration kicked in, she would at least be free for those few hours. It was with these thoughts in mind that Akeno raised her spear high into the air and brought it down with full intentions on cleaving off her wings.

"Woah there!" That plan came to a sudden halt when Akeno's spear was deftly plucked out of her hands. The girl swung around only to come face to face with the blond haired boy that had managed to 'tame' the dragon god.

"I'm sorry, but I can't let you do that." Naruto said as he clenched down on the shaft of the spear, shattering it into pieces. Akeno watched in shock as the remnants of her spear fall to the ground. It took several seconds for her mind to catch up to what had just happened, but when it did, she grew angry.

"What do you think you're doing?" Akeno yelled as she allowed her wings to unfurl fully behind her. Naruto looked completely unaffected by the display. The girl only got a single raised eyebrow in response.

"It looked like I was stopping you from killing yourself." Naruto's words left the devil slightly dumfounded. Killing herself? She could never do something like that. She had too much to live for. Too much she wanted to do with her life. She couldn't end it early.

"I wasn't going to kill myself. I was just going to…" She froze. What was she going to do? Hurt herself? Tear off her wings just so she could experience some sense of fictional freedom from her father? Was that honestly any better than killing herself?

Naruto watched as the girl froze, slightly confused about her reaction. That confusion quickly turned into panic when he saw tears begin to form in her eyes. Crying girls definitely were not the blond's specialty. He didn't know if he could handle one, especially after seeing what had happened minutes prior.

"Whoa! Please don't cry. Please, please, please don't cry!" Naruto grew frantic as he approached the girl. Before he could get close to her, her wings blasted him backwards, landing him flat on her ass.

"Don't come close to me. Don't touch me! _You don't know what I am_." The last part was said in a whisper but Naruto managed to still hear it as he climbed back up to his feet.

"Well, whatever you are, it can't be bad enough to stop me from stopping you from killing yourself." The blond reasoned. After spending time with Ophis, he couldn't imagine the girl in front of her being much worse. Ophis was indifferent to the point where life had no value to her. Despite her general cuteness, the girl was homicidal through and through.

"Don't you say that!" Akeno screamed in response. Obviously, he hadn't said the most appropriate thing. "You don't know what I am or what's inside of me. I would be doing the world a favor if I…" She trailed off once again as all her anger faded from her. She felt hollow, yet again, at the thought of what she had been about to do.

Naruto saw the girl freeze up once again. He was slowly beginning to piece together what exactly was affecting the girl. From what he heard from Rias' and Akeno's conversation and what the girl had just told him, a picture was beginning to form. And the picture looked very similar to one he had faced before.

"Y'know, I don't have to know you or know what's inside of you to know if you're a good person or not." Came Naruto's dry response. Before Akeno could shout out her reply, Naruto appeared in her face, startling her into silence.

"Its unbearable, isn't it?" Naruto started again, catching the girl even further off guard. She found herself loss as she stared at the blond. His face had taken on a sort of whimsical expression as he looked down at her. "The pain being alone, the pain of being different … the pain of having something forced inside you that you never wanted … that you hated."

At this, Naruto lifted the bottom of his shirt, revealing his stomach to the girl. Akeno's eyes immediately gravitated to the bright glowing symbol covering the blond's abs.

"I know that feeling." Naruto continued. "I've been there. To be honest, I'm no god. I'm not anything special. I'm just a human. A human cursed since I was a kid with something I never wanted in the first place. Some called it a demon. Some called me a demon. I … believed it for a while too. Things can seem real dark and lonely when you have to live with a part of yourself that you hate." Naruto dropped his shirt as he broke eye contact with the girl.

"The point I'm trying to make is there some things about yourself you can't change. You're born with them and stuck with them all your life. So you have to learn to accept them. When you learn to do that, the people around you will learn to do the same. They'll rescue you from from loneliness. They'll save you from yourself. They will be your friends." Naruto finished as he turned his attention back to Akeno. The girl had been silent for the length of his talk, leaving him somewhat ignorant to her feeling. The blank look she had on her face after he finished speaking certainly didn't give him much insight either. As the silence between the two continued on, Naruto began to think just how odd what he said sounded.

"Look, I know I'm not the best at explaining things. I was trying to s-" Naruto was silenced when Akeno slammed chest first into him. This time, the blond didn't hesitate as he instinctively wrapped his arms around the girl.

"It's so hard." Naruto heard Akeno whisper into his chest. A soft sigh left his lips as he began to rub the girl's back.

He could remember similar nights being spent with Iruka once it was revealed to him that he contained Kurama. Knowing the reason why everyone disliked him and knowing that he couldn't change it made life even more difficult at times. It left him, confused, angry and hating himself constantly as a kid. It was only with the help of his friends that he manages to truly accept himself as a person.

"I know it is." Naruto spoke out as he tightened his hold on Akeno. "That's why you're friends are here to help you. That's why I'm here to help you."

The girl gave him a tight squeeze. Without a single word, the girl had said a lot with that squeeze. It showed she was willing to try. She wasn't going to give up. She couldn't give up. For herself and for her friends.

Naruto couldn't help but smile as he held the embrace. Even though she didn't say, he knew he had helped Akeno, if only by a little. That's something an all-mighty god couldn't accomplish.

Some things needed a more gentle touch.

Sometimes, people just need a friend.

* * *

 _ **AN: 11,000 fucking words. What a chapter. I hope you all enjoyed it! Had to cut some crap out, Vali didn't have his big betrayal scene, the Leviathan chick didn't show up, Gasper didn't freeze time. The deeper we go, the more I change around the canon. Hopefully you guys and gals are enjoying it though.**_

 _ **So immediately, I want to address something that I'm sure that some of you are thinking. Its probably along the lines of "You made Naruto give in too easily! Stop making him be such a bitch/pussy/pushover/etc. Hes too out of character." Yeah, no. Its Naruto. Blond haired shinobi + peace = Naruto, at least in my mind. If you feel differently, oh well. Sorry 'bout that.**_

 ** _Also, no. Akeno isn't going to magically fall in love with Naruto. I figured I would just you that off the bat, so I don't get any angry messages claiming that I'm ruining the purity of Naruto and Koneko's relationship._**

 _ **Anyways, thats about it. Enjoy the rest of your day, and all that good crap.**_


	24. Chapter 24

The sun was particularly bright this morning, he noted. The heat radiating through the air was a testament to its brightness as he had long since discarded his shirt to avoid it getting drenched in sweat. It wouldn't do him much good to get sweaty so early in the morning.

Naruto was taking part in his daily ritual in a new section of the forest. A couple of days ago, he had finally wizened up and started to use clones to help in his purification process. With their help, he managed to get a lot more done in a very short amount of time. He managed to get so much done that he was actually starting to plan sending his clone out of the city and into the surrounding area, and eventually into other countries.

"Even with the clones, covering the whole world will take a while." Naruto sighed to himself as he broke his meditation. He always seemed to pick the hard goals that took forever to do. Though, he didn't really have anyone, but himself to blame.

"What am I thinking!" Naruto suddenly yelled out, disturbing the ring of animals that had settled around him while he was purifying the area. The animals gave him a quizzical look as he stood up to his feet with a wide grin stretched across his face.

"No task is too big for Naruto Uzumaki, and his gang of clones." He exclaimed before two clones popped into existence beside him. The three Narutos began to shake hands with one another and dance merrily, earning them each strange looks from all the animals. Seeing that their 'peace radiator' was now gone, the animals began to slowly disperse throughout the forest. After only a minute, a single animal was the only thing remaining with the blonds.

That animal's presence became known to the blond when it came sprinting from the edge of the forest. At the sound of the creature's yipping, Naruto turned his head towards it. His eyes immediately soaked in the sight of the tiny, evergreen fox that was sprinting towards him. His clones didn't get to experience his surprise as they dispelled seconds before the fox landed at the blond's feet.

"Where did you come from?" Naruto asked out loud as he kneeled down to inspect the animal. The little kit didn't make the task easy for him as it immediately hopped onto his outstretched arm and ran up it. The blond merely raised an eyebrow at the animal's behavior as it ran up the length of his body and planted itself firmly onto his shoulder.

"Well, you aren't shy." The blond rose back up to his full height as he glanced over at the kit. The little thing met his gaze and gave a curiosity filled look in return. In all honesty, if Naruto couldn't feel a not-so-hidden well of energy contained in the fox, he would've found the moment to be unbelievably adorable.

" **You do know that** animal **isn't normal?** " Kurama questioned as Naruto kept his attention on the kit. The blond let out a thoughtful hum as he absentmindedly lifted his hand and began to gently rub the fox's head. The animal showed no sign of reluctance as it immediately began to shove his head into Naruto's hand.

" _I figured that out when it hopped on my shoulder. Foxes aren't really supposed to have supernatural energy_." The blond ran his eyes over the creature. The thing was no bigger than his head, yet he could feel a power source that was equivalent to a devil radiating from it. Its white and yellow color scheme also made it pretty unlikely that the creature was native to Kuoh.

" **You're just going to let it come with you?** " Kurama questioned when his partner began to walk out of the clearing. Naruto gave a shrug at the kitsune's question, earning him a displeased look from the fox on his shoulder as the movement jostled it slightly.

" _Why not? It's not like it can do much harm_." Kurama huffed at his partner's response. The boy's lackadaisical attitude was going to get them both killed eventually.

It was only a matter of time.

* * *

"Naruto…"

"Hmm?"

"Why do you have a fox on your shoulder?"

"Because I found it in the forest."

Koneko loved her boyfriend. She really did. But, things like this made her question the boy's thought processes and sanity. What sane person would pick up a random animal in the middle of the forest and bring it back to their cooking shop? Only Naruto would.

"I think it's rather cute, Koneko-chan. It fits him." Koneko's eyes drifted over to her sole companion at the counter. Akeno looked as happy as could be as she sipped leisurely at a cup of tea that had been prepared for her by Naruto.

After the debacle that had occurred at the school, the blond and the sadist had grown exponentially closer. This had immediately sent off warning bells inside Koneko's head, especially after hearing they spent time alone before hand. It didn't help that her boyfriend had been rather sparse in his detailing of the events that led to his sudden closeness with the devil/fallen angel. It took the combined efforts of Naruto and Akeno to ease away the girl's thoughts.

Ever since then, if Akeno wasn't with Rias or Issei, she could be found at Naruto's shop. The two clicked in a way that almost seemed like magic. The two didn't talk much, akeno being more than happy to just sit back and watch the interaction between the two lovers, but when they did, the conversation would surely be filled with laughter, and happiness.

"Thank you for the continued support, Akeno-chan." Naruto said in reply, earning him a large smile from the devil. Koneko rolled her eyes at her boyfriend's behavior before returning her attention to her plate of cookies. No matter what her thoughts on Akeno were, having the girl here was a million times better than Ophis. The Nekoshou couldn't have possibly been any happier to have the god out of her hair.

"She only supports you because you make her food." Koneko mumbled as she munched on a cookie. The blond scoffed at the girl's words before subtly glancing towards Akeno for confirmation. The devil was avidly avoiding eye contact with him while sipping from her cup, confirming the Nekoshou's words and Naruto's fear.

"How could you, Akeno-chan?" The blond whined out loudly, catching the attention of some of his customers, before dramatically slamming his head onto counter. His head bang sent a cloud of flour up into the air as his forehead thudded loudly into a pile of dough. The male's dramatic antics earned him two poignant glares from his companions.

"So dramatic." Koneko mumbled to herself as a small smile creeped its way onto her face. Despite her words, she couldn't help feel happy at her boyfriend's actions.

It was just one of the few things she loved about him.

The sweet moment came crashing to a stop when the doors to the shop slammed open. Everyone in the store, including the fox perched on the blond's, turned to face the entryway. Their eyes were met with the hulking form of a man as he seemed to stumble into the shop. Behind him trailed two individuals. The sight of one of them made Akeno tense up immediately. Both Naruto and Akeno picked up on this and moved to comfort the girl before she could react rashly. The sadistic devil felt a pair of hands land softly against her shoulder and thigh respectively. She tore her gaze away from the individual in order to send her friends a grateful look.

"Ey blondie!" Naruto briefly looked away from Akeno to gaze at the man who had just stumbled into his shop and was now yelling at him. To say the man looked unique would be quite the understatement. Everything from his clothing to his hair screamed abnormal. Most of his body was concealed by a large, sweeping blue cloak. He had on a strangely large hat that seemed to be adorned with a variety of precious gems. His left eye was covered by an eyepatch and he had a wrapped package dangled along his backside.

Though, his appearance wasn't the real thing that caught Naruto's attention. The power rolling off of the old man sent shivers down the blond's spine. It was overwhelming, yet so contained. It was a feeling he had only felt once, in Ophis' presence, and the fact that the old man was giving off that feeling meant no good for him.

" _Then him_." The blond's focus switched over to the male companion of the old man. Unlike the other two, Naruto was actually familiar with this one. After all, Baraqiel had been present at the peace meetings only weeks prior. Plus, he had heard plenty about the fallen angel from his distraught daughter. The man looked exactly how he looked weeks ago. His face seemed to be set in a permanent scowl as his eyes remained set onto him.

"You deaf or something, kiddo?" Naruto's attention was forced back onto the old man when he got directly up to his face. The blond scrunched his nose at the scent of the men's breath. It stunk of alcohol and meat. The harsh scent grated against his nerves, causing the boy to physically move his head away from the man.

"I'm not deaf, sir. What do you want?" Naruto questioned, attempting to keep up the act of the amicable shop owner despite the man's shitty behavior. The old man seemed to sense his intentions as a sneer quickly crossed his face before he heavily plopped himself at one of the counter stools.

"I said give me the hardest alcohol you got back there." The man half-slurred, half-shouted at the blond. By this point, everyone in the shop had their eyes on the interaction. Naruto could feel the roaring flames of agitation building within him at the drunkard's behavior. A shared look with Koneko was the only thing that stopped the teen from losing his composure.

"We don't serve alcohol here." Naruto's response earned him a sneer from the man. A stream of incomprehensible speech left his mouth before he turned to face his female companion.

"Can you believe this guy? 'They dont serve alcohol'." His voice was mocking as he spoke to the girl. With his back turned, he couldn't see the agitation finally break through the facade Naruto had erected. Not even the calming touch of his girlfriend was enough to calm him now.

"What type of rinky-dink, shit hole doesn't serve alcohol? What a tra-" That was as far as the man got before he found the collar of his shirt seized in Naruto's grip. Before he could even move to react, the blond jerked his arm down violently, sending the men's head slamming against the counter.

"Listen here, you drunk piece of shit. You insult my shop one more time and I'll shove my foot so far up your ass that you'll be tasting my sandals. Now get the hell out of my shop!" With each word of the final sentence, Naruto moved. At the final word, he lifted the man from his stool before sending him flying through the air. With an embarrassingly high-pitched scream, the man crashed through the front doors of the shop and onto the sidewalk outside. Everyone in the shop was silent as the blond released a huff before casually returning to his treat making.

"Such an idiot." Baraqiel muttered to himself as he watched his charge go sailing out of the chart. He supposed he should've cared, but having to deal with the man's antics for the day had left him less than empathetic.

The fallen angel moved his attention over to Naruto, sweeping over Akeno with his eyes in the process. The blond could be heard muttering obscenities beneath his breath as he aggressively rolled out a piece of dough. A small sigh slipped past his lips as he approached the counter.

"Naruto-San, I apolo-" The man was put to a rather quick silence when the blond shot his palm upwards. The fallen angel found himself staring at the center of the teen's palm as Naruto continued his diligent rolling, now with only one hand. His confusion kept him silent for a few long seconds before he attempted to speak again.

"Is there an-"

"Shush!" The fallen angel general blinked owlishly at the rude gesture. This wasnt how he had expected this interaction to go. He hadn't even been aware he was going to talk during all of this, and now he was being hushed by some teenager. Despite his usual calmness and apathy, Baraqiel felt the tiniest amount of irritation well up within him.

"Excuse m-"

"Do not talk to me until you've talked to her." Baraqiel once again found himself silenced by the boy at the sound of his words. The fallen angel didnt even have to look to know who the blond was talking about. Even now from the corner of his eye, he could see the eager and hopeful look on his daughter's face.

"I…" The man began as he turned to face Akeno. The shop fell deathly silent as the father and daughter met eyes. The words that seemed ready to leap from Baraqiel's throat became stuck. His mouth remained agape as he saw his own reflection shining back at him in the teary eyes of his daughter. A choked gasp threatened to break the men's silence as for the briefest of seconds, the image of Shuri Himejima overlapped the form of her daughter. The similarities between the two were astonishing, and the fallen angel couldn't help but become mesmerized as he tried to observe them all. But, before he could, the vision flashed away, leaving him staring back into Akeno's eyes.

"I … I apologize." Baraqiel's words were rushed as he spoke. He didn't bother to wait for any sort of reply as he quickly turned on his heels and rushed out the door. He passed the stumbling form of the rude man that Naruto had thrown out on his way out. His departure left the store silent, even as the old man limped his way back up to the counter.

"Its so hard to get good help nowadays. What type of guard just leaves their client like that." The man grumbled as he sat himself back down at the counter. His words went completely ignored as Naruto and Koneko focused the entirety of their attention on Akeno.

"He apologized…" Akeno mumbled softly as she stared at the spot where her father once stood. Koneko swiftly made her over to her friend and placed a comforting hand on her thigh. Her action did not go unnoticed as Akeno offered up a soft smile in return.

"Are you okay, Akeno-chan?" The girl's attention was brought away to the Nekoshou. Akeno nodded at her fellow devil before climbing off of the counter's stool.

"I'm fine Koneko. I'm actually better than fine." She commented mysteriously before beginning to sway her way towards the door. Koneko and Naruto watched the girl exit the shop before disappearing from their sight around a corner.

"Should we go after her?" Koneko questioned worriedly after several seconds of silence. She turned to Naruto only to see him giving her a shake of his head while a small smile played against his lips.

"Not right now. She'll come back if she needs us. For now, let her be." The blond stated as the fox perched on his shoulder nodded along to his words. Koneko rolled her eyes at the strange sight before giving one last glance back towards the door. She would have Naruto and her friendship with Akeno in order to move forward.

"Now thats the type of girl you hate to see leave but love watching her go, if you know wha-" The drunken man's perverted statement came to a quick and conclusive end when a half eaten cookie managed to slip into his open mouth and down into his throat. The treat got stuck halfway into its journey, causing the man to hack and spit in a vain attempt to dislodge it. It became very clear to the man that his efforts were for naught as his face began to turn an unpleasant shade of blue.

"Odin-sama, you idiot." The dating duo heard the choking man's remaining escort say before slowly sauntering towards his choking form. She stood over his hunched position for several seconds while a disappointed and disgusted gleam shone brightly in her eyes. Then suddenly, without any warning, she brought her hand up before bringing it crashing down onto his back. At the moment of impact, the cookie went flying out of the man's mouth and smacked against the noise with a wet flopping sound.

"That is disgusting." The woman said as the now revealed Odin collapsed to his knees. His face was slowly returning to its original color as he sucked in huge gulps of air. From the corner of his eye, Naruto could see several of his customers getting up from their seats and creeping towards the entrance. They were no doubt a little put off by the sight of an old man hacking up cookies in the middle of them eating.

"Thank you so much, Rossweisse!" The man all but yelled as he began to climb to his feet. "I'm surprised you actually knew what to do in that situation. After all, a boyfriend-less girl like yourself probably doesn't have much experience with gagg-" Odin found hugging the ground once more as the girl's closed fist came slamming onto his back. A loud huff left his mouth as she then proceeded to begin stomping against his back.

"Shut your mouth, you dirty, useless, worthless perverted God!" The woman growled out as she continued her stomping. At the counter, Koneko and Naruto shared a look with each other as Odin suffered beneath the heel of his bodyguard.

"Did she just say Odin?" Naruto asked his girlfriend in a low tone. Koneko could only nod silently at his question as she watched the supposed God get manhandled by his guardian. This couldn't be the same Odin, King of Asgard and God of the Nords. This drunken pervert couldn't have been the same person who rode the steed, Sleipnir and contained the knowledge of the universe. It just couldn't be.

"Im not dirty nor useless! I climbed Yggdrasil for god's sake, you boyfriend-less virg-Ack!" A particularly large glob of golden blood came flying out of the man's mouth as the woman landed a very hard stomp onto his back. Koneko could only sigh as the god's words only confirmed her sinking suspicion. She had met yet another god and he turned out to be yet another pervert.

"We've all heard it. 9 days and nights. When will you stop talking about it?" The woman sighed before bending down and grabbing the scruff of Odin's cloak. With an almost practiced ease, she lifted him up into the air before deftly throwing the god over her shoulder.

"I apologize, Candy-Sama. He had too much to drink and didn't mean any disrespect. We'll be on our way now." The woman said as she turned to face the duo. She gave a small bow to them both before turning on her heels and walking out the door. All the while, Odin sat content on her shoulder, his eyes continuously trailing south to the rear end of his handler. The duo walked for several moments in silence, catching the attention of several pedestrian, before disappearing around the same corner Akeno did minutes ago.

"Why did she call you Candy-Sama?" Koneko questioned several moments after the duo disappeared from the shop. Her response came in the form of a frustrated mumble as he began to punch angrily at a pile of dough.

"Stupid evil angel and their stupid plans." The Nekoshou managed to pick out from the blond's incomprehensible mumbling. The girl could only shake her head at her boyfriend's behavior before returning to her seemingly never-dwindling plate of cookies.

Her boyfriend was weird and sometimes it was better to just not ask question. After all, something crazy would happen soon enough that would show her the truth.

This was Naruto we're talking about, after all.

* * *

It was another day and thus, another morning in the surrounding forests of Kuoh for Naruto. He was in a brand new area, having completely purified the chakra in the original clearing. His eyes were closed and his breathing was steady as he drew in the surrounding natural chakra. Perched on his shoulder was the same fox from the day before. The creature seemed to be in its own meditative state as it laid on the broad shoulder of the blond with its own eyes closed. The duo made for a rather good looking pair as they sat in their serene states within the center of the clearing.

The serenity of the moment was shattered as a light giggle rang out through the clearing. Naruto's eyes shot open as the melodious sound seemed to rebound throughout the forestry. The fox on his shoulder was slow to react as it give a long, weary yawn as Naruto rose to his feet. The blond seemed to be on high alert as he began to scan the clearing's edge in an attempt to deduce the origin of the sound.

"So this is the Candy God I've heard so much about. You look as sweet as your moniker makes you out to be." A harmonious voice suddenly replaced the giggling. The person's voice was distinctly male but it carried such a sweetness to it that Naruto almost mistook it for the female. Despite the sweetness, the blond could sense a strong undertone of power ringing out through his words. This and the fact that someone had managed to escape his senses so well tipped him off that this wasn't some normal person.

"Another god." Naruto couldn't help but sigh to himself as the thought of dealing with another god-like being. His first meeting with the supposedly "all-knowing" King of Valhalla had left a rather sour taste in his mouth and he wasn't in the mood to deal with another God at the moment.

"Hey you! Come out of the trees so we can talk face to face." Naruto's words came out blunt as his limited patience reared his head. When silence greeted him, regret soon filled the blond at the thought that he potentially pissed off yet another deity. His worries were put to a rather quick and uneventful rest however when he heard the soft plop of feet behind him.

"You're a straightforward one, aren't you?" As soon as Naruto turned to face the man, his senses lit up like a flame. He found himself momentarily stunned as a mad rush of natural energy assaulted him. The person standing in front of him seemed to be a beacon for the stuff. His very presence breathed life into the surrounding areas. If there was any doubt beforehand, it had been wiped away from Naruto. He was surely in a presence of a God.

The man's appearance did little to dissuade. The best way to describe the God would be as a beautiful youth. His curly hair and full beard were stained an earthly brown. His pointed ears twitched every so often as his green eyes stared down Naruto. A soft smirk played against his lips as his bare chest was pointed proudly into the air. One hand clutched a set of wooden pipes while the other tapped lightly against the furry lower half of the men's body. Overall, the God looked like a strange mixture between a human and a goat.

"I'm happy about that." The God started up again, briefly interrupting the blond's observation. "The rest of the gods can be so uptight sometime. Dionysus is the only one without a stick shoved up his ass. Silvanus, Aja Qu and Frey can be such prudes most of the time."

.

.

.

"What?" Was the only thing Naruto could articulate after hearing the man in front of him speak. He only understood about half the words that came out of the god's mouth. The rest was mere gibberish that made zero sense to the blond.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I forgot to introduce myself." The man looked genuinely apologetic as he spoke. The bashful look didn't last very long however as in the next instant, the god raised his flute up to his lips. Before Naruto could even begin to question what he was about to do, the man began to play.

The heavenly sound that flowed out of the pipes was enough to almost put the shinobi in a trance. If the God had decided then to try and slit his throat, he may have actually succeeded. The effects of the music were similar to a genjutsu and it took everything in Naruto not to fall into its full lull.

"I am Pan~ Greek God of the Wild, Nature and the Mountains. It is very nice to meet you." Pan sung in an equally as pleasant tone as his flute. Naruto could do nothing but blink owlishly at the introduction. Its uniqueness was on par with Jiraiya's.

"Uh … hello. My name is Na-"

"No need to introduce yourself, my friend!" Naruto found himself interrupted once again as Pan seemed to almost warp into his personal space. The man was radiating happiness as he flashed the blond a pearly white smile.

"I know about you! We all have. Naruto Uzumaki, the Candy Sage! Tamer of Ophis and Slayer of the Fallen Angel, Kokabiel. Able to elude angel, devils and fallen angels alike. God of Nature, and Sweets, an odd combination, if I say so myself, but its oddness makes you unique!"

At the mention of his titles, Naruto wanted to release a groan as realization stumbled upon him. Instead, he swallowed down the urge and looked the god straight in the eye.

"I am not a god." Naruto's tone was firm and conclusive. His response came in the form of a blank expression as, for the first time since meeting, Pan went quiet. This treasure didn't last for very long as the nature god soon burst into a fit of laughter. An irritated mask donned itself upon the blond's face as the god's laughter continued for a solid minute before slowly tapering off into a set of giggles.

"I'm sorry for laughing, but that is honestly a first. I've never heard a god deny their godhood before." Pan said in between his giggles, serving to only agitate the blond further.

"I'm not denying my godhood. I'm just not a god!" Naruto shot back.

"Yeah, you are."

"No I'm not!"

"Yeah, you are."

"No, I'm not!"

"If you're not a god, you shouldn't be able to block this!" Pan's words were the only warning Naruto got before the man disappeared from his sight. An instant later, the blond twisted around and caught the hairy leg of the god moments before it would've slammed into the back of his skull. Pan had a wide grin on his face during it all. Even when Naruto proceeded to send him slamming roughly to the ground.

"What the hell was that?" Naruto shouted as he stood over the downed god. The laughter that followed his questioning only served to drive his anger even further.

"It was a test and you passed!" Pan exclaimed before sinking into the earth. Naruto let off a solitary blink before turning again. His eyes immediately locked onto the god who was now leaning casually against a tree with his ever-present grin still on his lips.

"Not many people can even begin to dodge my attacks when I'm in my natural element. You blocked it! Thats shows you're special!" Before Naruto could speak up in his defense, Pan was once again in his face.

"I can feel it inside you! Nature is in love with you and you with it. There's no denying that. You can't hide from the wild. I can feel it roaring inside you. Its in love with you! It follows you with each step and breathes with every beat of your heart. You two are so intune that its making me jealous!" Pan's voice raised to an almost frantic level as he shouted in Naruto's face. The groan that Naruto held back before now came flowing from out of his lips at the god's words. This was not supposed to happen. This is exactly what he did not want.

"I can't wait to see how you'll turn out." The god continued to speak, completely unaware of the strife his audience was going through. "Maybe you'll join another pantheon. We could use another nature god. Though, you look like you'll fit in better with the nords … maybe even the Japanese. Maybe even a new pantheon! Oh, that would be interesting. Hopefully you don't have to go through the whole crucifixion thing like Jesus did. That looked painful. Jupiter enjoyed that kid's torture a little too mu-

"Shut up!" Naruto finally shouted out. His words served to finally silence the nature god. With his newly acquired silence, the blond took the time to sigh. This was quickly becoming too much to handle. Being a god wasn't all it was cut out to be.

"Can you just leave? I need some alone time to process all this." Naruto managed to force out after several moments of silence. He needed some time to process this all and the greek god's presence wasn't helping whatsoever.

"That's fine. But don't expect it to last very long. Im sure the rest of the gang are already on their way to greet you. Even Artemis will eventually find some time away from her troops to come say Hi. You better believe it~" Before the blond could question the god about using his catchphrase, Pan sunk into the earth, masking his presence more. Naruto was once again left in the clearing with his fox companion, more confused as ever as the morning sun continued its slow climb into the air.

"More gods…" The blond mumbled before falling to his ass. If what Pan said was true, he had to expect several more visits from gods. If any of them were as lively as the greek god was, he was in for a major headache.

"Why can't life be more simple?" The blond muttered to himself seconds before his head was consumed by a cloud of smoke.

Nothing could ever be simple for Naruto Uzumaki.

* * *

 **AN: First of all, hey to the people who actually read these things. I'm back after a bit of a hiatus. Had to take care of some personal issues, deal with some stuff. Though, I'm back now.**

 **As for the story, the cannon of DxD is officially taking a co-lead to whatever crazy ideas I have in place. I'm not going to completely wipe it since there are so many interesting things that occur within it but I think some other stuff can spice things up.**

 **Anyway, hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Review or PM me with any questions, concerns, comments, etc. Have a good night/evening/morning/day. Peace!**

 **PS: With this chapter, we will be breaking 5000 favorites. I cannot express how amazing that is. I appreciate every single one of you. PM anytime this week if you would like to speak.**


	25. Chapter 25

"Candy-Sama!" Naruto was really beginning to hate that title. He was very quickly starting to learn that the title of 'Sama' didn't fit him at all. He wondered if being called Hokage-Sama would've bothered him this much.

" _Maybe this is why the old man hated when I called him Hokage._ " Naruto released a wistful sigh to himself before he allowed his attention to focus onto his newest pain in the ass.

She was a female of unquestionable attraction with some rather questionable features. Her head of red hair was about shoulder length and fell over her ruby colored eyes. The girl was somewhat tall, managing to come up to Naruto's chin. The two fox ears twitching from the top of her head gave her slight boost in height. A white kimono covered her form as several fox tails swung lazily behind her.

"Please do not call me that." The blond groaned out. If he had known that his fox companion would become a pain in the ass, he wouldn't have taken it back with him. Now he had to deal with a girl that magically transformed from a fox.

" **I don't want to say I told you so, but I did**." Kurama chimed in. His comment went almost entirely ignored by the blond as he decided to keep his focus on the girl.

"But you are Naruto, are you not? Tamer of Ophis, and Slayer of Kokabiel. Capable of avoiding the archangel Michael and Lucifer. God of Nature and swe-"

"Yes, yes, that's me!" Naruto interrupted the girl. Her introduction was an almost carbon copy of the one Pan gave which was slightly worrisome. He didn't want that type of reputation spreading throughout the supernatural grapevine. The fewer people who knew of his feats the better.

"So if that is you, isn't it only right that I refer to you as Candy-Sama?" The girl questioned innocently. Her response came in the form of a loud groan from the blond as he buried his head into his hands.

It was too late. She was too far gone. There was no convincing her otherwise.

"Just … what do you want?" The blond's voice was muffled as he spoke through his fingers. His defeated tone served as a stark contrast to the excited look that popped up on the girl's face as she pulled a piece of parchment from her kimono.

"On behalf of Kyoto, the Youkai faction and Kunou-Sama, we humbly request your assistance in the retrieval of Yasaka-Sama." The girl read off the scroll before rolling it back up and storing it back into her dress. When she lifted her head to observe the blond's reaction, she was met with an utterly stupefied look from Naruto.

"What did you just say?" Naruto asked, unable to completely comprehend what the girl just said. He immediately regretted his question when the fox began to reach back into her kimono to retrieve the scroll.

"No, no, no. Just explain what you said." The teen was clearly exasperated as he spoke. Luckily for him, his message seemed to get across to the fox girl as she retracted her hand from her cloak. The blond couldn't help but let out a thankful sigh at this as the girl dived into her explanation.

"Our leader Yasaka-Sama has been kidnapped by some unsavory characters. In her leave, Kunou-Sama has taken up her position. Unfortunately, Kunou-Sama is really young and can't exactly rule properly. Plus, Yasaka-Sama has the key to the great powers that dwell within Kyoto. We must retrieve her immediately or the whole world could be destroyed." The fox's voice grew panicked towards the end of her speech. Naruto could do nothing but groan and move his hands to his temples in an attempt to stave off the headache he was inevitably going to have after dealing with this.

"Why did you come to me? I don't get the point of coming all the way here just to ask for my help. Isn't there someone else you guys could've asked for help?" The blond questioned in a somewhat futile attempt to wriggle his way out of the situation. As soon as the fox girl mentioned the destruction of the world, a large part of him knew he was going to get involved in some shape or form.

"Well, why wouldn't we come to you?" The girl's voice had a slight bit of shakiness to it, tipping Naruto off to the fact that the next thing to come out her mouth would be a bold faced lie. He didn't need any empathetic abilities to know that.

"Y-you're the tamer of Ophis and slayer of Kokabiel! You defeated the hero Heracles and pur-"

"Can you tell me the real reason now?" Naruto interrupted the girl as his lack of patience decided to rear his head. The combination of being lied to and his slowly growing headache were not doing much to aid his patience either.

"I …. Ummm" The fox girl grew undeniably nervous after being called out by the "god". She began to shake slightly as she refused to meet the blond's eyes. The duo entered into an awkward bout of silence as neither of them spoke a word.

"Well…" The young girl was the first to break the silence. "Kunou-Sama is … she is a bit young. So when she heard about a new candy god who had their own shop she got really excited and … wanted to get some samples." The girl managed to stutter out while slowly raising her head to meet Naruto's gaze. When she finally managed to get somewhat eye level with the blond, she was met with a completely impassive look. The look on the teen's face sent her into a panic as she quickly jumped up to explain herself.

"B-b-but that isn't the only reason! You're supposed to be a new god and Kunou-Sama is going to be the ruler of Kyoto eventually. She thinks it's a good idea to have powerful allies in the future and thinks you'll make a perfect fit." The girl blurted out her words as quick as she could. It wouldn't be very good to offend a god by saying you only want their help just so you can get some samples. Though, now that she thought about it, some of the more narcissistic ones would probably take that as a compliment.

Fortunately for the girl, Naruto was the furthest thing from narcissistic. He was selfless and his selfless attitude was making it damn near impossible to not offer the girl a bit of his help. So it was with a heavy sigh and a growing headache that Naruto finally relented.

"Give me all the information you guys have so far and I'll see what I can do." The lack of energy in the blond's words was entirely made up by the bright smile that appeared on the girl's face. She began to jump up and down excitedly while letting out a high pitched squeal.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you so much! Kunuo-Sama will be so happy to hear this. I'll get you everything you need as soon as possible." Those were the last words Naruto heard from the girl before she was promptly engulfed in a cloud of smoke. It took a few seconds for the smoke to clear and when it did, it revealed that the girl was once again in her fox form. The creature seemed to almost salute the blond before turning on its heel and leaping into the forest. The sound of branches breaking and trees rustling followed her disappearance for several seconds before the forest finally settled into a state of peace and quiet once more.

" **I told you not to bring the fox back with you. I told you the fox wasn't normal and would only cause a headache. But, you didn't listen to me. Now look what you've gotten yourself into**."

"Shut your mouth, Kurama!" Naruto yelled back at his partner as he began to march back to his house. A scoff and a dark chuckle served as the fox's response, causing the blond to speed up in his retreat back to his home. Any of the patience he had to start the day with had quickly dispersed after speaking with the pair of foxes.

Plus, he had a feeling that he was going to need as much energy as possible with the crap he just got involved in.

* * *

A massive form shot through the empty air that polluted the Dimensional Gap. The figure was traveling at speeds that seemed unfit for its size. The flying figure continued to break any illusions connected to its size by suddenly flaring its wings up, sending it shooting up into the air. It performed barrel roll-esque maneuver before idly floating in the middle of the sky.

" **Hell yeah!** " Great Red explained as he flapped his wings to keep him afloat. His voice was almost impossibly loud as it carried on for miles and miles within the Gap. He had just performed his first official barrel roll without crashing head first into the ground so he was pretty excited. He had been practicing ever since his battle with Ophis so to finally have accomplished it made the legendary dragon very happy.

Speaking of the dragon god, Great Red's attention was snatched away from his accomplishment when he briefly glanced a small speck flying through the air through his peripheral vision. He quickly twisted his massive body to face the fast moving speck, only to gain a view of Ophis' back as she flew away from his position.

" **Hey!"** Great Red yelled at its fellow dragon. The Apocalypse dragon didn't get even an ounce of Ophis' attention as the girl refused to even hesitate to acknowledge his shout. Her lack of action served to only annoy the dragon as he took off towards her.

" **I said Hey! Were you watching me?** " The True Dragon yelled once more, now much closer to Ophis. The girl couldn't possibly ignore him now that he was so close. At least, that's what Great Red assumed. Unfortunately for the dragon, he underestimated Ophis' ability to be apathetic. The Infinite Dragon seemed to be completely unaware of his existence as she stayed set on her path.

" **You better have not been watching me. If you were, I'll ki-** " Great Red quickly found himself eating his own words when, in one smooth movement, Ophis turned from her path and darted towards the massive dragon. Before he could even register her movements, the infinite dragon slammed full force into Great Red's chest. The silence that usually persisted throughout the dimensional gap was disturbed as a sonic boom ripped through it. Great Red found himself propelled backward at break neck speeds as an aching pain spread throughout his chest. He couldn't even think to right himself as the shock and the pain of the situation temporarily immobilized him.

"Such a pest." Ophis mumbled to herself as she watched one of the main sources of her annoyance fly away from her. Great Red soon became a tiny red speck on her vision as the momentum from her attack carried him away from her. She had tried her best to show a little patience, something Naruto had been attempting to instruct her on, but found the task to be impossible with the overly annoying Great Red in her presence.

"I'll apologize later." She told herself as she set herself back onto her path. The concept of a promise was another thing that had been taught to her by the blond. He had said when one makes a promise, they should never break it. She would have to apologize to him later for breaking her promise of trying to be less violent.

But first, Cao Cao. Her apology would have to wait until she eradicated that man from existence. His treachery and the mere fact that he was alive at the moment really annoyed the Infinite Dragon. Any attempts to hold in her annoyance with the man would only end with more violence.

"Sometimes violence isgood." Ophis mumbled to herself as she sped through the gap. She would have to bring that up with Naruto once she saw him again.

* * *

"You're oddly calm for someone who has been kidnapped."

Yasaka briefly opened her eyes to observe the owner of the voice. With the chains restraining her arms and legs, she couldn't do much else from her seated position.

Cao Cao's smiling face greeted the leader of Kyoto. His smile irked her. The man was undoubtedly handsome but his attractiveness only served to make him more irritating to the woman. It may have been because he was the mastermind of her kidnapper or it could have been that he simply had a face that easily agitated her.

"I am calm because this is merely temporary." Yasaka closed her eyes as she spoke. The woman honestly did not look the least perturbed by her restrained state.

"Oh, why is that?" Cao Cao looked honestly amused from his position leaned against the cell wall. The man didn't seem to have much fear of any action from the woman since he stood so casually within her cell.

"Because my people will come. And when they do, you and your friends will perish." Yasaka stated before descending into silence. Her comment seemed to amuse Cao Cao as a guttural chuckle slipped past his lips.

"You surely have the demeanor of a leader. Unshakable even in a situation like this." Cao Cao pushed himself off the cell wall before taking several steps towards the Youkai. He stopped once he was directly in front of the sitting woman. His eyes almost seemed to shine in the dimly lit room as they stayed focused on Yasaka.

"I respect that. You at least get that that from me unlike the rest of those freaks." The smirk on the man's face faded away for the first time as a disgusted sneer took its place. The look on lasted for a single moment before his smirk was back in its place as if it never left.

"Unfortunately for you, having my respect will not halt what happens next. You and your people have had your time in the sun. It's humanity's time to bask." With that statement, the blond promptly turned on his heels and exited the open door of the cell. He barely got a foot out of the door before another male entered the room. This man seemed much more timid as he basically tiptoed his way into the room. Even with the staff clutched in his hand, the male seemed frightened out of his mind as he stood in front of Yasaka. The youkai seemed to sense his fear as one of her eyes cracked open to observe the new arrival.

"I'm … I'm sorry about this." Georg mumbled out before thrusting his staff out in front of him and squishing his eyes closed. Yasaka raised a single eyebrow as an incomprehensible mumbling began to exit the man's lip. The woman briefly recognized the words as having a latin origin before her focused was snatched away from her.

A pressure settled on her head. One instant she was sat in her cell and the next she felt as if her head had been forced underneath water. The world around her became indistinguishable as color and lines blurred into one. Confusion and a sudden, overwhelming sense of weariness left her motionless. Her consciousness finally faded from her grasp as her vision descended into black.

"It is done…" Georg mumbled out as he lowered his stand. The man stepped to the side, allowing Cao Cao a view of his captive. The nine-tailed fox looked sat mute. The man couldn't help but crack at smile at the blank look now present in her eyes. Georg had truly worked his magic and hypnotized her.

"Excellent work!" Cao Cao looked exuberant as he directed his smile at Georg. The pliant man offered his leader a bashful smile along with a quick nod of his head. By the time he looked back up, the True Longinus wielder's had set his attention back onto Yasaka.

"Truly excellent work. Have some of our members bring her to the summoning area. We are finally ready to summon the Great Red." Cao Cao spoke as he turned to walk out of the cell. With his back to the man, he missed the somewhat frantic nodding of Georg. Still, the man knew his request would be fulfilled. And, very soon, the birth of his plans will follow.

"Great Red … I cannot wait to meet you."

* * *

" **HEY YOU**!" For one of the few times within her infinitely long life, Ophis growled. How could she not when her main source of agitation had, for some odd reason, didn't get the message that she rather not be bothered.

" _How can violence never be the first option when beings like him exist?_ " The thought floated through the dragon's mind as she turned to confront her rival. Running away from the beast would only delay the inevitable. She had managed to get the dragon's attention onto her and now she must deal with it.

"What." It was less of a question and more of a final warning to turn away lest you face the wrath of a god. Unfortunately for both parties, the warning went flying right over Great Red's head as he lowered it until his snout was mere feet away from Ophis.

 **"What makes you think you can just spy on me then hit me and run away?** " The dragon shouted even though his audience was only mere inches away from his mouth. Unfortunately for Ophis, this meant that a small amount of spit landed on her. This action only served to worsen her already agitated state as she immediately evaporated the liquid with a quick flare of her energy.

"I was not spying on you. Now, go." Ophis curt reply was followed by her turning her back to the massive beast and continuing her journey away from him.

"Dont **tell me what to do!** " Great Red let out a horrifyingly loud yell at be ordered around. Even with the tremendously high volume of his shout, his words had no visible effect on his fellow dragon as she continued to grow further and further away from him. A hot huff of air left his mouth as he raised his head till he stood at his full height.

" **Stop ignoring me!** " The dragon shouted before twisting its right wing downward, aiming at the Ophis' retreating form. A victorious shot left its mouth moments afterwards when he felt almost no resistance as his wing crashed through Ophis' position. Any sense of victory then preceded to immediately leave him when he attempted to pull his wing back only to encounter a huge amount of resistance. A second attempt at pulling back resulted to him in getting pulled forward as the resistance grew stronger. The massive dragon was sent toppling forward, unable to balance or keep himself upright due to lacking control of one of his wings. His body slammed roughly into the ground of the dimensional gap, sending it shaking and cracking beneath his form.

"You … are annoying." The Great Red lifted its head at the sound of the voice. His massive eyes met with Ophis' and for the first time in its existence, the dragon felt its stomach drop. For the first time since their initial meeting, the dragon saw pure rage in his counterpart's eyes. The fluctuating cloak of energy shrouding her body only spelled out pain and suffering for him.

"I don't like annoyances." Those were the last words Ophis spoke before her energy cloak expanded to hundreds of times its original size. The deafening roar that followed the cloak's expansion actually served to strike a pang of fear in Great Red's chest.

He may have made a mistake.

* * *

He made a mistake. There was no denying it. Going along with that fallen angel's plan had been one of the worst decisions he had ever made in his life. The amount of trouble it had brought him made that very clear. Unfortunately, this only seemed to be the very beginning of the trouble he would have to face.

"So you really don't have any alcohol here?" Naruto let out a small huff as he turned to face the only customer present in his shop. As soon as the man had taken a single step through the door, every customer within the building shot up to their feet in an erratic, crazed raze. They raised hell in the shop for about thirty seconds before running out into the streets. At the time, the blond could only watch in complete shock as they mixture of men, women and children poured out into the streets, stunning and confusing every pedestrian that they passed. By the end of it all, he was left with an empty shop excluding one sheepish man that looked as if he had been forcibly dragged out of a rave.

"For the last time, no. This is a candy shop. We don't serve alcohol here." The blond's patience had left a noticeable trail when it made its exit, leaving Naruto in a rather agitated mood. His face was set in a scowl as he leaned heavily against the counter while staring the man in his eyes.

"For a candy god, you arent really acting the sweetest at the moment." The man's words earned him from the shop owner. Seconds later, a chuckle left his lips at the stupidity behind his joke. Naruto didn't seem to find the joke nearly as amusing as his head slammed soundly into the counter seconds before a pain-filled groan left his lips.

"Who are you and what do you want?" The words sounded tired as they left Naruto's lips. His meeting with Pan had drained up a large amount of his patience for dealing with supernatural creatures.

"I know the first couple of weeks can be a bit of a pain but you'll get used to it." The man completely avoided the as he walked up the counter and made himself comfortable in one of his seats. Naruto raised his head as the heavy scent of grapes and pine cones invaded his senses. The grinning face of the bearded man greeted him as he proceeded to drag his upper body up off the counter.

"Who are you?" The blond asked. Each word was emphasized as he tried his very best to not scream at the man. His attempt at doing just that grew indescribably harder when the man in front of him conjured a glass of what looked to be wine out of thin air before beginning to sip leisurely at him. The blond was left grinding his teeth as the god consumed his drink with a small smile and a pleasured sigh.

"Me? Some call me Bacchus, but I prefer Dionysus. Makes me sound a little less of a drunken slob. I'm the God of a bunch of stuff. The only ones you need to worry about are parties, wine and fertility. What am here for is to greet you before any of those lunatics get to you. Unfortunately, it seems that Pan managed to beat me here. Stupid, useless goat boy. Can't even take care of his own domain." The last two sentences were muttered out by the god but Naruto still managed to pick it up. A part of him was curious to the origins of the wine god's statement but the more rational part of him rationalized that not knowing was the much more painless and headache inducing option.

"And by greet me, do you mean get rid of all my customers?" The blond questioned while glancing at the now empty seats of his shop. His sips were physically waved away by the god as he took another long gulp of his wine glass.

"Mortals can't really handle my presence all too well. Drives them a bit crazy. You're obviously not having that issue." Dionysus casually explained while twirling his glass. The contents of the glass seemed to around its rim, dangerously close to spilling out but never reaching that point.

"Obviously." The blond stated before the two descended into silence. The god seemed occupied with his wine twirling while the blond wearily eyed him.

"What now?" Naruto questioned after several long moments of silence. Dionysus looked away from his glass to the blond as a small smirk wormed its way onto his face. He set down the glance and leaned back into his stool as he placed his hands behind his head.

"What happens now is that I tell you everything you need to know about the load of crap you're going to have to deal with." The god stated.

"Seems a little too good to be true." Kurama chimed in. His partner couldn't help but agree as his cerulean eyes narrowed at the god.

"How nice of you. And I guess you're just doing this because you're such a nice guy." The blond questioned sarcastically, earning him a small chuckle from the son of Zeus.

"Good. You're not some naive fool. I can work with that." Dionysus jumped from out his seat. His full height made it so that he came only an inch or two short of Naruto's.

"Admittedly, no. Nothing in this grand world of our comes free. Though, the price of my advice is rather small, if I do say so for myself."

"I'll be the judge of that when you actually tell me what the price is." Naruto shot back.

"Well … its rather simple." Dionysus stopped to take a short glance at the wine glass that now sat out of his reach. With a snap of his fingers, the goblet was back in his hands. The blond in front of him couldn't help but think of the action as a complete abuse of power.

"I don't know if you know this or not but Kuoh is rather famous for its grape harvest." Naruto blinked owlishly at the man's words

"Grape Harvest?" The blond echoed, his voice muddled with uncertainty.

"Yes, grape harvest. Grapes do not exactly grow that frequently in this area. A while back, I came to visit and enjoyed the party scene so much that I decided to bless this city with a bountiful grape harvest. Now, mind you, this was way before the rowdy angels and devils decided to move in. With all the wild stuff happening lately, my precious grapes have been getting destroyed." The god sounded genuinely saddened as he spoke about the destruction of his grape. The blond felt a twinge of sympathy for the guy as Dionysus took a long sip from his glass.

"I want that to stop. I refuse to let my blessing just go to waste due to the idiotic destructiveness of those Christians. Unfortunately, I am a busy man who has many responsibilities. You on the other hand …" The god trailed off to take yet another drink from his glass. This time, however, his eyes never left Naruto's.

"So in exchange for some information, you want me to take care of your grapes? Is that really it?" Naruto questioned, his voice betraying the large amount of skepticism within him.

"I don't sense any malicious intent from him."

"That's really it. I'm a benevolent man and us nature spirits should really stick together. Its best if we start our relationship on a good note, yknow." The man casually spoke before attempting to take another sip from his glass only to discover that it was empty. A sneer briefly crossed his face before, with a snap of his fingers, the glass was refilled to its original level.

"What do you think, Kurama?" Naruto questioned his partner as he was somewhat unsure how to react to the offer.

"I think you might as well go along with it. You already have the ire of Ophis. It wouldn't be wise to gain the agitation of another." Naruto let out a small sigh at his partner's words. They did not represent the best outcomes for him.

"Fine. I'll take care of your grapes." The blond spoke out loud. The massive grin that appeared on Dionysus' face the second the words left his mouth tipped him off to something wrong. His warning sense came a bit too late, however, as he was too slow to dodge the cup full of wine that the god threw in his face.

"What the hell was that?" The blond exclaimed as he wiped his face clear of the wine dripping from his brow.

"That was me blessing you. Enjoy it. I don't give it to many people." Dionysus said as his wine glass disappeared from sight. He gave one last look at the one who was still attempting to clean himself of the wine before turning and walking out of the shop, whistling a jaunty tune.

"I hate gods. I hate them so much." The blond muttered as he wiped his eyes of the wine. He looked up, ready to chew out the God, only to realize that the man was long gone. In his place on the counter, sat a rather thick book.

"How to survive in a world full of maniacs." The blond read out loud before opening to the first page of the massive book.

He was going to have a long night ahead of him.

* * *

He made a mistake.

He would never admit it out loud that he made a mistake but the throbbing pain that radiated throughout his body made it very clear to him that he made a mistake. He pulled on the dragon's tail and incurred her wrath. Even with his wounds healing and stitching themselves closed, he knew he was never going to make that same mistake ever again.

Or, at least for the next week or so.

"I … am finished with you. Leave or die." Great Red went through the effort in order to lift his head. Ophis floated several feet over her head, her ethereal cloak making her actual body barely visible to the dragon. Her eyes still carried a hint of the fiery anger that was present several minutes beforehand, but now an icy apathy took root.

" **Make me!** " The dragon seemed to instantly forget the promise he made to himself as he stuck out his tongue in a rather childish reply to Ophis' words. He instantly regretted those words when the girl's dragon body exploded around her in an instant. His stomach dropped as the massive dragon loomed menacingly over his body with nothing but malintent in its eyes.

"You ... are stupid. Die." Ophis said before swinging one of her claws down. He would never admit it, but the Great Red closed his eyes and actually flinched as the claws came crashing down towards him.

The dragon's eyes soon came creaking back open when he didn't feel the tell-tale pain of his fellow dragon's claws raking into his body. He was shocked to find that the dragon was nowhere to be seen. Completely gone. Vanished into thin air. Not a single trace of her or any of her energy.

" **She ran away again**!" The dragon growled in anger as he lifted his body off the ground, effortlessly as if Ophis just didn't beat a dragon-sized crater in the ground with his body.

" **Next time she tries spying on me, she's going to get it**." Great Red mumbled to himself as he began to fly away from the battleground. He had more important stuff to worry about now.

Like doing another backflip. Maybe even a front flip this time.

* * *

The Dragon Gate. An almost ethereal object that had no set destination in the physical world. Yet, every dragon in existence had some sort of innate connection to it.

In this case, the Dragon Gate manifested itself in a brilliant yellow magical seal. The seal was humongous, spanning the length of over 100 yards. Directly in the center of the seal sat a dazed Yasaka. The brightness of the seal seemed to respond to the slight movements of her body as she swayed erratically at its center.

"Beauty holds many form. This is surely one of them." Cao Cao smiled as he observed the seal. By his side, Georg sat with his eyes closed as he kept his control over Yasaka active. The duo were just among some of the few Hero Faction members present at the seal.

"The Great Red will soon appear and the beast will soon be put under our control." The man stated as he ran his thumb along the length of the True Longinus. His eyes seemed to sparkle in tandem with the light radiating from the seal as a wide smile wormed its way onto his lips. Humanity would soon prove to all that they were not just weaklings. With Great Red, the supernatural creatures of the world would bow to them all.

"It's happening." Georg mumbled with a creased brow just seconds before the seal exploded into an array of colors. All the heroes present were forced to cover their eyes lest they be blinded by its brightness. Cao Cao was among them as he used the shaft of his Longinus to block his eyes.

The man only dared to uncover his eyes after half a minute. The smile that had been present on his face before was still there as he prepared to meet and subjugate Great Red. The beast's idiotic and arrogant nature would only make the task that much easier.

But, all of his hopes were dashed when he fully uncovered and opened his eyes. Instead of seeing the great visage of Great Red staring back at him, he met the cold, yet fiery eyes of Ophis, someone he had been hoping to avoid as of late.

"Georg. Get me out of here." By this point, the man had broken his connection to Yasaka and was staring in horror at the infinite dragon god.

"You." The word was almost mumbled yet it carried loud enough for both men to hear it. Neither knew that a single word could contain so much malice. A shiver of fear ran down both of their spines as the dragon's energy began to pour out of her. All of the humans present within the chamber felt their breaths catch in their throats as the overwhelming presence of the dragon god fell upon them.

"Georg!" Cao's yelling snapped the magician out of his fear-induced trance. He turned and met eyes with the now panicked descendant of the Emperor of Wei.

"Out. Now!" The man all but screamed. Georg gave a brief side glance back at Ophis and saw that the dragon god was advancing towards the duo at a frightening pace. With his boss yelling at him and his death growing closer and closer to him, Georg had all the motivation he needed to prepare a teleportation spell. A shimmer fell over the duo as Ophis continued to close the distance between the three.

"Hurry, you fool." Cao yelled as he watched Ophis grow closer. His hand was clenched around his Longinus as he kept his eyes locked onto the dragon. He wasn't ready to face. Not now. Not today.

Lucky for him, today wouldn't be the day they fought. Just as Ophis got within several meters of the duo, Georg's magic took hold and whisked the duo away from their assured destruction, leaving the dragon staring at the empty spot where they once stood.

"Run from me. I will find you." Ophis mumbled to herself as she stared at the duo's previous position. She kept the staring contest going for several more seconds before shifting her attention to the various humans and beings that still surrounded what was left of the dragon gate. The group looked absolutely horrified as they stared up at Ophis' floating form.

"Violence … is needed now." The dragon god muttered before releasing the full extent of her energy. Immediately, half the group froze up once again while the other half began to run.

"You cannot run." Were the God's last words before descending upon her prey. The screams that followed would be lost to time as by the end of the god slaughter not a single witness was left to the horror.

* * *

A splitting headache was the first thing she awakened to. The smell of ashes, chalk and sulfur soon followed that. It was safe to say that she hadn't awakened somewhere pleasant.

Yasaka groaned as she raised up from her laid position. Her vision swam for a second before settling onto the various designs that sat beneath her. She took a brief look down at herself and saw that she was still dressed in her kimono. A further glance around the area revealed that the chalk designs stretched for several meters.

"Where am I?" The youkai couldn't help but mutter to herself as she stood to her feet. She didn't recognize the chamber she was in nor could she remember much of what happened to her. All she could remember were the last words of the man who kidnapped her before darkness overcame her.

"You." Yasaka almost jumped out of her skin as a voice rang out from above her. She immediately looked up only to receive an upskirt view of a girl that looked far younger than she. She immediately averted her eyes away as a small blush spread across her cheeks.

"Ah … I'm sorry. I didnt … I apologize." The youkai stuttered to the young looking girl. Ophis paid the woman's apologies no mind as she descended to ground level. Her feet lightly landed against the floor of the chamber before she made her way in front of the kitsune.

"You … are not like them." Ophis stated. The embarrassment she was feeling slowly began to fade away as Yasaka observed the young woman in front of her. The gothic-style dress covering her small form fit rather well with the apathetic look plastered on her face. Though, she was rather cute, even with the emotionless look on her face.

"Them? Who are they?" Yasaka questioned, now much more relaxed. The girl in front of her took a brief glance behind her, seemingly searching for something, before turning her attention back onto the woman.

"The heroes." Ophis curtly replied. The youkai gave a brief nod of understanding at her answer.

"No, I am not like them. They actually kidnapped me and I'm assuming they are the reason why I am here." Yasaka said.

"They brought you?"

The woman nodded her head yes. She waited for another question from the girl but received nothing but silence. It seemed that the young girl was lost in her thoughts as a blank look filled her eyes. The expression lasted only for a second before awareness returned to her.

"Do … you want to leave?" The girl questioned. Yasaka had to stop herself from squealing at how utterly cute she was being. The way she acted only brought up memories of her daughter who she was sure was missing her dearly right now.

"I actually would. Though, I don't exactly know how to get home. Would you happen to know where Kyoto is?" Yasaka questioned. Her spirits fell slightly when the girl gave a negative shake of her head. It seemed that getting home wouldn't be as easy as she hoped.

"I … know someone who will help." That made the youkai perk up. Maybe all hope wasn't gone.

"Will you take me to them?" This time, Ophis nodded her head, making Yasaka's face light upin a bright smile. No other words needed to be exchanged as the very next moment, the dragon ripped a dimensional tear directly in front of her. She didn't bother to look back at the youkai as she stepped through the tear in space and time. Yasaka hesitated only for a brief second before unknowingly following her savior.

* * *

"What the hell is wrong with all these people?" Kurama couldn't help but verbalize his thoughts as he read Dionysus' book through his partner's eyes. Naruto was having the same line of thought as his eyes scanned over the fiftieth or so page of the book.

"Incest, rape, murder, throwing kids from mountains, cutting heads off toddlers … these are supposed to be the gods of this world?" Naruto questioned. He was only 50 pages in and he had read so much information regarding the history of the gods. They were atrocious beings. Empathy was a thing that was barely practiced amongst them. It didn't matter if they were Egyptian, Greek, Hindu or Japanese. Each faction had a plethora of sick and twisted stories surrounding everyone from the head chief of the religion down to the lowest demigod.

"Oh Kami … these people are going to be visiting my shop soon." The blond wanted to wail as that thought struck him. How was he going to survive his encounters with these lunatics? He was going to go insane himself dealing with them.

The blond was brought out of his rather morbid line of thought when a literal rip in time and space appeared before his very eyes. He gave only the slightest reaction when he saw Ophis step out of the rip in space. His reaction became much more animated when he saw the very person he had agreed to look for step out of the same portal before the thing collapsed in on itself.

"I have returned." Ophis announced her arrival before taking a seat at Naruto's counter. The blond paid the dragon the slightest amount of attention as he stayed focus on the youkai that had appeared in the middle of his shop.

"Ah … hello there." The woman stated after several moments of silence. The blond blinked a few times to verify that what was in front of him was reality before sighing. He briefly closed his eyes as his hands made their way through his mane of hair.

"Hi. You're Yasaka, right?" The nod he received from the woman only confirmed his thoughts. Another sigh slipped through his lips as he closed the book Dionysus had given him.

He didn't think he would be reading anymore tonight.

* * *

 _ **AN: Well, that was a chapter. Hope that you all enjoyed. Cannon is being altered more and more, as you can most likely tell from this chapter. Not really much to say past that. Have a nice rest of the day. Review or PM with me any questions, concerns, comments, spotted errors, etc. Peace!**_


	26. Chapter 26

**AN: Well, I did it. In exchange for you guys helping raise over $850,000 in a total of 24 hours, here is your chapter.** Its **about 9:15pm where I am and I am tired. Before you dive into it, let me explain some things.**

 **As you read this chapter please take into account that I was awake for 24 hours watching the live stream while also writing this story. I tried to do as much editing as possible but a combination of needing to get this out before the deadline and extreme tiredness has made it near impossible for me to fix all errors. If you spot any, please feel free to PM me them, no need to clog up the reviews with them.**

 **Anyways, I hope you all enjoy the chapter. Thank you to absolutely everyone that donated or spread the word about the event. If you still want to donate feel free to do so. If you missed any of the** stream **, you can find most of it on youtube. PM if you have trouble finding it. Goodnight to all. I'll be back in the morning to answer PMs and finish editing.**

* * *

"I can see why my daughter was so interested in your treats. They are quite delicious." If looks could kill, Yasaka would be dead on the floor of Naruto's shop with a mouthful of caramel dripping from her mouth. Fortunately for her, no matter how intense Koneko made her stare, the leader of Kyoto would not succumb to her looks.

"Ah~ Its not polite to stare, Koneko-chan." The Nekoshou briefly switched off her glare to look at Akeno. The devil was sat comfortably on the stool next to her and was sending the smaller girl and amused yet knowing glance.

The entirety of Rias' peerage was currently at the blond's establishment. The group had decided to take one of their rare days off from school and general devil-work to pay Naruto a visit. It also helped that Koneko had convinced the shinobi to give them just about everything for free.

Their visit just happened to coincide with the day after Ophis' return, which also brought about Yasaka's presence to the shop. When Koneko walked into the shop and saw that the dragon god had returned, her mood plummeted. When she saw that an unknown and buxom lady was chatting it up with her boyfriend, the already sour mood took a turn for the worse.

"Do not care." The girl grunted out before shifting her focus back onto Yasaka. Fortunately, the woman's attention was being taken up by Issei. The boy was completely distracted by the loosely contained breast of the leader of the Youkai. She remained somewhat ignorant to the dirty looks Koneko was shooting her, saving Rias from possibly having to deal with a war between the Youkai and her peerage.

"Naruto-san, you amaze me with each visit. I have no idea how you're able to perfectly blend this tea with chocolate essence and produce a magnificent taste palate. Fantastic job." Kiba commented as he sipped from his mug. His comment earned him an incredulous look from Naruto as the blond stood behind his counter.

"Kiba … you know that's just hot chocolate right? I literally just melted some chocolate into milk?" Naruto said slowly, not entirely believing that the devil was unaware of the existence of hot chocolate. It was such a common beverage during the winter time back home.

"Chocolate melted in milk. You're a true culinary genius, Naruto-san." The boy looked entirely sincerely as he spoke, throwing Naruto even further into his confused loop. He honestly couldn't tell if the blond was messing with him or not. In the end, he decided to take the boy's words as a compliment and move on.

"Here's your bag, Yasaka-san." Naruto said before holding out a giant white plastic bag. The Youkai leader gave a long whiff of the object before sighing contently. She happily reached over and plucked the object from the blond's hand.

"My daughter is going to love these. I'll have to make sure that she saves me some." Her comment earned her a small round of chuckling from the group of devils, excluding Koneko. The young girl seemed content with staying silent and staring down the woman that seemed to almost radiate beauty.

"Yasaka-sama!" Everyone's attention was taken away from one another as a new person came bursting into the shop. The same kitsune that had begged for Naruto's help originally now stood panting in front of the small group with a large grin plastered across her face.

"I … didn't believe you … but you did it so quickly!" The girl panted out while flashing a large smile at Naruto. "You really are amazing … Candy-Sama."

Naruto smiled awkwardly back at the girl as everyone's attention shifted back onto him. The fact that she was still calling him by 'Candy-Sama' was worrying. He had hoped to get further away from that title.

"I agree with dear Kuichi-chan. I appreciate the efforts taken by you and your adorable colleague." Yasaka chimed in. As soon as the words left her mouth, Naruto was already turning to explain himself.

"Ah .. its really nothing. Actually, Oph-

"Nonsense. You've shown me hospitality far beyond I expected from a stranger. I know see that your title as God of Sweets extends to your personality." Naruto felt his stomach drop at the woman's words. Even Yasaka had fallen for his god status. This was not good.

"Really guys, you're being to-"

"For your hospitality-" Naruto groaned out loud at being interrupted once again. He should've been used to it by now but unfortunately for his sake, he was not. "I will let it be known through all of Kyoto that the Candy God is an ally to the Youkai. I'm sure songs and legends will be written about your greatness."

"Honestly Yasaka-san, this is all too much. I didnt even do anything! I'm not even really a god." The blond's voice reeked for desperation as he tried to unconvince the woman. The last thing he needed was a faction full of creatures worshipping him.

" **It would be great for** business **though. Imagine a constant line of kitsune wanting to taste just about anything in the shop as long as it was made by your hands**." Kurama chimed in.

" **Kurama is right. Never turn away that kind of business**." Naruto blinked owlishly at the new voice that suddenly appeared in his head. It took him a couple of seconds to connect the dots and when he did, his face lit up in a brilliant smile.

" _Is that you, Son_?" Naruto asked, even though he already knew the answer to his question. After all, there were only so many people that could talk in his head. "Where have you been?"

" **I've been resting. I haven't had a situation where someone wasn't sealing me away or needed my chakra for something for years. I took a well-deserved nap**." The monkey king grumbled out.

"Thats und-"

" **You still have people in front of you, idiot**." Kurama interrupted the blond's reply to his fellow tailed beast. The fox's words snapped the blond out of his trance as his vision refocused on Yasaka's still smiling face.

"I can understand how the mantle of a god can be a bit intimidating to take up but with the support of Kyoto, I am sure you will flourish." Naruto's attempts at dissuading her seemed to go sailing right over Yasaka's head, causing the blond to sigh. He had encountered yet another kitsune who believed him to be a god. This one happened to have sway over an entire population of Youkai, making the situation much worse.

" **I don't like this whining attitude of yours. People are mistaking you for a god and you're moping! Chin up!** " Son yelled from the confines of his seal.

"Thank you for your patronage." Naruto mumbled out, collapsing under the weight of Son's words and Yasaka's inability to understand just how much he didnt want to be a god. His response earned him yet another brilliant smile from the woman before she turned to Kuichi.

"Let us return home. I am sure Kunuo has been missing her mommy." The young kitsune nodded at her master's words before her form was enveloped in a small puff of smoke. Yasaka went through a similar transformation, and when the smoke clear, two foxes stood on the floor of Naruto's shop. One of the foxes were noticeably larger than the other, tipping the group of devils off that that was Yasaka.

"You'll always be welcome in Kyoto, Candy-Sama." Despite the fact that she was in her fox form, the woman still managed to make her voice sound seductive. The fox actually winked at the blond before running out the front door of the shop with Kuichi in tow. The group watched as passers bys screamed in terror as the two foxes ran in and out of their legs. The duo left a noticeable wake of disturbed people as they disappeared around a corner.

" **A lot of weird people tend to appear and disappear around that corner.** " Naruto couldn't help but nod his head at Kurama's comment. He was lucky that his customers had become so desensitized to the general nonsense that took place within his store, else he would be out of business.

Speaking of weird people appearing around corners, Naruto's eyes bulged when, only a second after Yasaka and Suichi disappeared around the corner, the perverted Odin came frantically sprinting around the same corner. The man bowled over several pedestrians while making his turn before shooting a beeline towards Naruto's shop.

" _Please_ dont _come in here, please_ dont _come in here, please_ dont _come in here_." Naruto mentally repeated in his head as the man grew closer and closer to the entrance of his store. To the blond's dismay, the man came bursting through the glass doors of the shop, panting and looking around frantically until their eyes met.

"You gotta hide me!" Odin screamed as he approached the counter. The group parted to make way for the man as he literally ran into the counter. His face was covered in sweat and his pupils were the size of dinner plates as he stared at Naruto.

"No. Get out of my shop." Naruto's response sent the man into even more of a frenzy. The man sent his upper body launching over the counter as he leapt to grab a hold of the boy's collar. The man's slippery hands made it the task rather difficult but he managed it after several failed attempts.

"You gotta man. My life is on the line." Odin's words reeked of desperation as he pleaded to Naruto. His words seemed to slam against an apathetic brick wall as the blond's facial expressions didn't even twitch.

"I do not care. Out my shop. Now." Rias' peerage watched in amazement at the interaction between the old man and their blond friend. They had never seen Naruto act so hostile towards someone before. Who was this guy to make the laid-back and friendly blond act so mean?

"Is that Naruto's long lost father who abandoned him at birth or something?" Issei whispered to Koneko as his eyes stayed locked on the duo. Koneko choose to ignore the pervert's words in favor for watching the scene herself.

"He's going to kill me. You can-" Odin's head suddenly whipped around to stare at the corner he had just appeared around. Everyone near the counter followed his head movement just in time to notice the sky take a sudden darker shade. The god's pupils dilated at the sight of the darkened skies.

"He's here. Oh, myself. He is here!" Odin yelled out loud before diving head first over the counter. Before Naruto could even react, the man had dashed into the backroom of the shop, leaving behind a counter full of confused devils and one agitated blond.

"Get the hell out of my store, you perverted alc-" Naruto turned to drag the god out of the back of his store but stopped when the doors to his store exploded open once again. The blond released a heated huff as he turned to face the entrance of his store yet again. His day had just only recently begun and he was already beyond irritated with how it was turning out.

The dark clouds that littered the sky above seemed to get almost absorbed into the confines of the shop. The customers closest to the door found it very difficult to see as the clouds obscured their vision. The dark mist crept further and further into the shop before stopping only a couple of feet from the counter. Once stopped, the mist rose up from the floor and began to condense into a solid form. The group watch, frozen in a mixture of confusion and awe, as the mist began to take the shape of a man.

The man's clothes was the first thing to form. A blue-crown jewel formed around six feet in the air. A pair of yellow earrings formed directly below the jewel. The outline of a cloak similar to the one Odin possessed came into view. A snow-white cloth quickly filled in the outline. With the clothes formed, skin began to fill them out. His skin took the shade of a sickly gray as it bulged against the fabric of his clothes. The light blue hair that formed on his scalp curled in the air and seemed to almost defy gravity. His golden eyes seemed to shine brightly in the light of the shop as an arrogant smirk stretched the man's newly formed skin.

"Hello … Candy God." Naruto released an audible groan at the man's words. He already disliked this person.

"What do you want?" Naruto grunted out. He could feel the eyes of every devil present burn into his figure as he talked.

The man remained silence as he took a slow sweeping glance of the shop. His gaze fell over each customer, freezing them in their seats before moving on to the devils. They fared slightly better under his look as their stronger wills allowed them to remain somewhat strong in the man's presence. Finally, his gaze fell behind Naruto's shoulder in the direction of the back of the shop before falling back onto a still annoyed blond.

"I wish to have no conflict with you, infant god." The blond's eye began to visibly twitched in agitation at the name given to him.

"I know that Odin has hidden himself in this establishment. Release him into my custody and I shall leave this place untouched." The man spoke.

"And what happens if I don't?" Naruto questioned, his face as neutral as ever. His words made the man in front of him narrow his eyes before a haughty chuckle left his lips.

"Then I will eradicate you and this peasant's hut from existence."

"Oh shit." That was the collective thought that ran through the mind of almost everyone present in the shop. All at once, they began to shift themselves away from the blond. If the knew one thing, it was that you never insulted Naruto's shot. Never!

"...Who are you?" Naruto questioned after several long moments of silence. His question seemed to interest the man as a pompous look overcame his features.

"I am Loki the Trickster God. I am the one who will bring Ragnarok upon the Gods and end their reign." Loki introduced himself proudly. The revelation of his identity sent the surrounding devils into a shocked state. Naruto, on the other hand, didn't look the slightest bit disturbed by the revelation. If anything, he looked amused.

"Trickster god, eh?" Naruto chuckled before letting loose a small chuckle. His comment earned him an odd luck from the God as the blond met eyes with him.

"You consider yourself a trickster god? Fine. For insulting my shop, you will face a lifetime of prank torture. May you live every moment of your life in fear of the next prank." Naruto proclaimed loudly as he slammed his hands on the top of his counter.

His declaration was met with a brief period of silence from the god before Loki erupted in laughter. So strong was his laughter that he bent over and began to hold his stomach in some vain attempt to keep it in. Everyone in the store watched as actual tears streamed down his face as he fought the battle against his own breathing.

"You are quite a joker!" Loki exclaimed as he rose up to his full height. He reached a hand up to his face and began to wipe his face clear of the tears that stained it. He honestly hadn't found something or someone that funny in centuries.

"Your humor is the only thing that spa-" Loki trailed off suddenly when an explosion of flour was suddenly set off inches from his face. His skin and clothes were stained powdery white as the substance seemed to almost glue itself to him. By the time the flour had settled, the man looked more like ghost than a god as he stood frozen in front of the counter.

The devils present at the counter were frozen in place, unsure on whether they wanted to laugh or cower in fear. The God looked absolutely ridiculous with the flour covering his body, yet they could sense the rapidly increasing anger that was building up inside of him. Their eyes slowly drifted over to the blond and saw he wasn't even attempting to hide his powder-covered hand as he stared down Loki.

"Get out of my shop before I bring out the chocolate sauce." The blond's words left no room for argument. The devils around him could tell that the boy would be happy to spray the god head to toe with every single condiment and sauce in his possession. That only made them question Naruto's sanity. What type of person would so boldly mock and tempt a trickster god? Especially one as vengeful as Loki.

The god said nothing as he slowly closed his eyes. Once his eyes closed, a silver glow surrounded his body. Under the glow, the powder covering his body began to flake and fade away. It only took a few seconds, and by its end, Loki was back in his immaculate form. His eyes slowly opened themselves, revealing his golden irises which were not tinted under a haze of thinly veiled anger.

"I no longer find you amusing." Loki spoke as his eyes burrowed into Naruto's. The blond didn't flinch or give way under the gaze as he stood his ground against the god.

"Why are you still in my shop then?" Naruto questioned the man. Loki narrowed his eyes at the boy's reply before briefly glancing around the establishment.

"Because this establishment is mine. At least, it will be once I've eradicated you from existence and take it for my own." The god said as he vision returned to Naruto. At least, that's what he would've done if the blond hadn't leapt over the counter moments beforehand. As soon as the blond's fingers brushed against the fabric of the god's cloak, the duo disappeared in a yellow flash, leaving behind a store of confused customers and devils.

"...Will Naruto-san be okay?" Issei was the first to speak after several seconds of stunned silence. Behind him, he could feel the general flow of the shop restore itself as the customers got over the fact that the owner just made himself and another guy disappear.

"Naruto-kun will be perfectly fine. Though, that won't stop Koneko-chan from chewing him out." Akeno said teasingly before looking over at the Nekoshou. The girl had her attention settled on a half-eaten piece of cheesecake that was quickly becoming smaller and smaller. At the sound of her name, Koneko briefly looked away from her treat to meet Akeno's eyes. The eye contact lasted only for a brief moment before the young refocused her attention back onto her cake.

Even though the girl wasn't visibly showing it, she was worried. Akeno managed to pick up on this during their very brief eye contact. No matter how strong she knew her boyfriend was, an almost instinctual urge within her mind would make her worry about his safety.

"She's so adorable!" Akeno squealed inwardly as she watched her fellow peerage member. It was at that moment that the devil decided to do her best to keep the young girl company while Naruto was gone. It was the least she could do after all the things Naruto had done for her.

"I for one hope Naruto-san returns soon. I would love to sample more of this hot chocolate of his." Kiba's words earned him several pointed glares from his colleague. The devil took this as a sign to just quietly focus his attention on the delicious cup of chocolate in front of him.

It seemed like everyone didn't enjoy the wonderful beverage as much as he did.

* * *

He had another person to add onto the list of people he would kill. He didn't care that he would have to go out of his way past Ragnarok, he would kill the blond that had dumped him in such a horrid place.

Loki grimaced as the smell of feces invaded his nostrils. He looked down at himself, which only served to make him grimace again when he saw that his clothes and skinned were stained with poop.

A loud trumpeting sound brought the god's attention away from himself. He looked to right and saw the unsightly image of an elephant's backside only several feet away from him. The god looked down at the literal pile of shit he had found himself in before looking back at ass of the elephant as his mind began to connect the dots.

"Blonds are despicable." Loki muttered to himself as his shit-covered from ascended into the sky. Between his infuriating half-brother and this new Candy God, he was very quickly beginning to hate the hair color. People who possessed it only seemed to exist to bring him strife.

With a brief flare of his aura, the feces covering his body evaporated, leaving him as clean as the day he was born. Now cleared of the horrible scent that had begun to eat away at his sense away, the god took the opportunity to observe the surrounding areas.

"A savannah." Loki mused to himself as his eyes scanned over the dry, arid area. Dozens of elephants dotted his sight, serving as a replacement for the lack of trees in the area. The blond that had seemingly transported him into this despicable heat.

The blond's location became revealed to the god when he felt the air above his head suddenly shift in speed. Loki shot his head up, only to see the bottom of Naruto's heel heading towards his face. The god managed to cross his arms above his head to brace himself against the attack mere moments before Naruto's heel crashed into him.

Even with him bracing himself, Loki was blasted back down to earth behind the force of the blow. With his body careening towards the ground at an impossibly high speed and his arms screaming out in agony due to the force of the blond's kick, the trickster god could only mentally prepare himself for his undoubtedly harsh reunion with the ground.

Surprisingly, his impact with the earth wasn't as harsh as he predicted. Instead of the back-breaking pain he had thought he would encounter, the god found that his fall was rather cushioned. His body sank rather smoothly into a gelatinous substance that absorbed the entirety of his momentum. Loki found himself to be rather grateful to the foreign substance … before he realized it was the same pile of shit that he had found himself in.

"I almost can't notice you down in there. You blend in pretty well." Loki's parallel position to the ground afforded him a clear view of the blond that had just drop-kicked in the pile of poop. The boy had undergone a transformation in appearance, the trickster noted. His form was now cloaked in a golden cloak that seemed to made of pure energy. The presence of nine mysterious orbs floating ominously around his head gave Naruto an angelic appearance as they reminded the god of a halo.

"I've had enough with your sick humor." Loki muttered loud enough for the blond to hear as he once again began to rise out of the pile of feces.

"I have the sick sense of humor?" Naruto looked offended as he repeated the Norse's words. "Is that coming from the horse molester down there?"

"What … what did you just call me?" Loki stuttered out after a moment of stunned silence. His face screamed disbelief as he stared up at Naruto.

"You heard me! I read what you did. It was absolutely disgusting what you did to that horse." Naruto's words were accusing as he pointed a finger down at the god. As the blond's words began to process the god's mind, a light blush appeared on his cheeks.

"Do you speak of Svaoilfari?" The God hesitated as he spoke. Naruto responded with an angry nod, confirming Loki's suspicion and increasing the intensity of his blush.

"That … that was a unique situation. I needed a mount and-"

"Don't feed me that crap. You just wanted to have sex with a horse!" Naruto interrupted the man with a heated shout of his own.

"That is not true!" Loki fired back, yet the blush adorning his cheeks said otherwise. Naruto took notice of the god's embarrassment and decided to twist the knife even deeper.

"Whatever you say. I bet you didn't stop at that poor horse either. I wonder how Fenrir and Jormungandr came ab-"

"Enough!" Loki's shout cut Naruto off and sent the elephants around him scattering. The blush was still on his face, though the floating blond could no longer tell if it was there because of embarrassment or the anger the god felt. Instead of asking, the teen decided to stay quiet as Loki recollected himself.

"You…" Loki paused to release a small sigh as he ran a hand through his hair. "You have outlived any sort of usefulness. As soon as I kill you, I'll return to your store and raze it to the ground."

"Those are some big words for an animal molester." Naruto radiated confidence even as Loki narrowed his eyes at him. The shinobi eagerly returned the look, entering the duo in a battle of wills as they waited to see who would cave in first.

Loki was the first to crack, in some sense. The man broke eye contact when his form dissipated into a cloud of black puff with a loud popping sound. In the same instant, one of the orbs orbiting the blond's head morphed into the shape of a kunai. Naruto quickly snatched the makeshift weapon out of the air as he turned to twisted in the air a mere moment after Loki appeared behind him. The god was now armed with two intricate looking daggers that he gleefully sent stabbing down at Naruto's chest. The blond swiped at the descending knives, slamming his own kunai against them against and sending them careening off course.

"I see you're a quick one." Loki shouted as he spun full circle using the momentum generated by Naruto. The blond ducked beneath the arc of the blade before sending his fist slamming into the god's unprotected stomach. The man was sent flying backwards several feet in the air before he managed to regain control of his flight.

"But are you quick enough to handle another?" Loki exclaimed before, with a flick of his wrist, he sent one of his knives flying through towards Naruto's head. The blond shifted out the way, allowing the blade to go flying past him. He would have immediately flew over to confront the god if he hadn't suddenly sensed a presence behind him. He turned only to have to immediately duck in order to avoid having his throat slit by what looked to be another Loki.

" **He stole your move**." The kitsune sounded amused as the blond exchanged blows with the clone. Their weapons slammed against each other, sending fragments of metal and fire spraying off of the blades. Naruto didn't question the odd display as he twisted his body out of the way to dodge a stab from the clone. With the clone's arm overextended, Naruto grabbed a tight hold of the limb with his free hand. Despite Loki's status as an actual god, his clone's strength didn't even come close to being able to overpower the blond. Instead, he was left to the blond's mercy as the teen quickly jerked the limb towards him, breaking the bones within with an audible crack.

 _"His clones have bones?_ " Naruto was shocked as he released the now broken limb. He didn't have much time to contemplate the discovery before the original was upon him with a knife in hand. The blond turned to face the god, only to receive a foot to the back, sending him careening forward towards Loki.

"Fuck!" Naruto exclaimed before suddenly plummeting out of the sky. The blond had deactivated his cloak mid-flight, relieving himself of the power of flight and allowing him to avoid being cut by the god. The teen took the short tumble back to earth to calm his nerves with a few quick breaths before landing soundly against the dry dirt ground.

"You're not the only asshole who can make clones." Naruto yelled before several puffs of smokes appeared next to him. A strong breeze that had been blowing across the land cleared the smoke quickly, revealing that six other Narutos were now in existence.

" **You just called yourself an asshole, kid. I don't know whether you caught that or not**." Naruto didnt pay Son's comments any attention as he reactivated his chakra cloak. His clones underwent the same transformation before taking off towards Loki and his still present clone.

"Well, this is an interesting development." Loki mumbled as he watched the group of blond's fly towards him. He had never met someone who seemed as comfortable with the usage of clones like himself until now it seemed. Fortunately for him, he had prepared himself for situations like this.

The god looked over at his clones and the two shared a brief look before nodding. Without a word being uttered, the injured clone dived towards the approaching clone.

"What the hell is he doing?" Naruto questioned as he watched the injured clone approach his group of clones. There was no way that a clone with a broken arm would last even a second against his clones, especially with his chakra cloak activated.

At least, that's what the blond thought before Loki's clone reached his. When the disabled copy reached the group of six blonds, an explosion ripped through its body. Without any warning, a blast of energy ripped through the clone's body like paper and slammed into the unsuspecting clones. The blonds did not stand a chance as the shockwave forced them to disperse instantly.

" **First he can make clones and now he can make them explode? This guy is stealing all of your moves**." Kurama's comment made his partner frown. Even though he would never admit it to the god floating above him, Naruto was pretty agitated at having some of his signature moves used against him.

"Imitators will never be as good as the original." Naruto mumbled in response as his eyes followed Loki's form

" **Technically, he is a god so he most likely came first**." Once again, Son's comments went ignored by the blond as he summoned four clones to his side. No words needed to be exchanged as the group of blonds took off into the skies at Loki.

"The original comes out to play. How adorable." Loki said to himself as he readied himself. His missing blade materialized itself in his hand as his eyes locked onto the original Naruto who was leading the pack.

The god's eyes widened in shock when the blond suddenly disappeared from his sights in a golden flash. There was no warning, one second he was there and the next he was gone. Once again, the god received a rude awareness of his foe's position when he felt a hand land against his shoulder.

"I don't like copy cats." That was the last thing the god heard before he suddenly found himself hurtling towards the four other blonds. Loki attempted to correct his line of flight but found his body completely immobilized. It was with a sickening realization that the trickster realized he was at the mercy of his opponent.

The first clone to greet the god met him with a devastating kick to the stomach that completely reversed his momentum. As the god threw up a mixture of golden blood and bile, his body flew high into the air.

Loki wasn't given much rest as the second clone zoomed directly at him, its fist cocked behind it as it neared the airborne god. Loki had barely begun to recover from having his innards rearranged from a kick before the clone unleashed a bone-shattering punch to man's chin. The god's chin was forced upwards against his will, forcing him to bite the tip of his tongue off. That pain barely even registered with the god as a blinding pain overtook his senses. It was because of this pain that the god didn't notice he reached the apex of his flight and that the three remaining blonds had appeared above his form.

"Uzumaki Go Barrage!" The trio of blonds shouted with one leg each raised high in the air. The next moment, a shockwave tore across the savannah as the blonds sent their feet crashing onto Loki's back. The god's downward flight time proved to be much quicker than his up time as he smacked face first into the earth only seconds later. A tremor tore through the ground as the impact of the god's body formed a crater.

"Copy that." Naruto said out loud as his two clones dispersed themselves. He quickly descended to the ground before allowing his cloak to drop. He was sure that the god had been properly dealt with and wouldn't be getting up anytime soon after that last attack.

"Why can't I move?" Naruto heard the god yell from his face down position. The blond took the small walk over to the god's crater to see the man squirming within the hole. The wounds that had been inflicted to him were still visible, yet they were already undergoing a visible process of healing.

"These gods are tough." Naruto made a mental note as he watched some of the lacerations on the god's body stitch themselves together. It reminded him of his own healing factor.

"I put a mobility seal on you. Uses your own energy against you to hold you in place. Its one of my strongest seals, honestly." Naruto explained as he watched the god struggle to overcome the seal.

"You have the equivalent of the weight of a neutron star on each of your limbs. I thought that was pretty fitting with all the stuff I read about you and Thor." At the mention of his brother's name, Loki went into a frenzy as his squirming and wriggling increased tenfold.

"Don't you dare mention his name in my presence. Now, free me!" Loki yelled before grunting in exertion. None of his attempts at freeing himself were working! His magic seemed to have even been nullified underneath the influence of the blond's seal.

"I'll let you do that for yourself. Im sure you'll figure out a way. Until you do, enjoy your stay with your animal friends. Try not to touch any of them inappropriately. And, if you come near my shop or eve Kuoh in general, I'll make sure the only thing you'll ever be useful for is giving birth to horses. Goodbye!" With those parting words, the blond disappeared from the top of the crater, leaving the trickster god alone.

"I'll kill that boy. I swear I will." Loki muttered as he continued his struggle against the seal's effect. His struggle was briefly interrupted when he heard the loud blowing of several elephants. The god managed to force his head up in order to see the quickly growing horde of elephants gathering at the top of his crater.

"Oh, god no." Loki muttered as he watched the first elephants descend down into his crater. It was quickly followed by several others as they all began a steady march down to the god. The man felt his stomach as the animals grew closer and closer to his prone form.

"Damn you, Candy God!

* * *

Naruto reappeared behind the counter of his shop in a golden flash. A quick sweep of the front of the store revealed to him that everything was still in order. Everything from the same customers to the same group of shocked devils were still in the same place he left them.

"You're back … so quickly." Issei muttered out as he stared at the blond in shock.

"Its only been seven minutes. How could you have possibly handled a god in such a short period of time?" Rias muttered as she narrowed her eyes at the blond. There was no way the blond could've defeated a god that quickly. Something wasn't right here.

Any suspicion the girl had was instantly wiped away when the blond placed a slice of chocolate cake in front of her. Her peerage watched in wonder as their leader began to devour the small snack, her question nowhere near her main focus anymore.

" _The power of cake._ " Naruto couldn't help but happily sigh to himself as he watched the girl eat his distraction. Sometimes it was just too easy.

Naruto's train of thought was interrupted when he felt someone grab onto the front of his shirt. The blond was given no warning before he was pulled down into a heated kiss by Koneko. For once, the blond found himself on the submissive end of the spectrum as the Nekoshou held him in place with her hand and her tongue. Instead of fighting the change, he decided to sit back and embrace the change in behavior.

"Neko-chan seems to have a dominating streak in her." Akeno licked her lips as she watched her friend manhandle her boyfriend. She couldn't help but be slightly turned on by the sight of the two sharing such an intimate moment in public.

"I never knew Koneko could be so bold." Kiba and Asia shared similar thoughts as they watched the exchange. Kiba muttered his thoughts out loud before taking a glance down at his empty cup. A part of him wanted the girl to end the lip embrace so he could ask the blond for another cup of the delicious hot chocolate.

"Lucky bastard." Issei said as he watched the somewhat erotic scene in envy.

"Woo boy! I wish I had a woman who would kiss me like that." Just like that, the intimate moment came to a sudden end as Odin made his presence known. At the man's words, Koneko slowly pulled away from the embrace in order to aim a seething glare at the god. The color in the god's face visibly drained as the Nekoshou took a step away from her boyfriend and towards him.

"Perverted bastard." Koneko said before leaping at the man. Odin released a shrill shriek before the girl descended upon him, sending them both tumbling into the back room, putting them out of view of everyone else.

"Should we stop her?" Issei asked after hearing the god scream out for mercy. Naruto gave a negative shake of his head as he took Rias' now empty plate from her.

"Its probably best we don't. Dont want to get caught in the crossfire." Naruto said just seconds before Odin released an ear-shattering scream. Shocked silence followed the men's screams for several seconds before everyone gradually returned to their previous actions.

"Naruto-san, may I have another cup of hot chocolate?"

"Of course, Kiba." Naruto happily accepted the devil's empty mug before turning to fill it. As he turned, he could see Odin's outstretched, bloody hand reaching out from within the backroom out the corner of his eye. The hand was quickly pulled back into the room before another bout of screams rang through the shop. The blond could only shake his head at the sight before filling his fellow blond's cup of coffee.

"Definitely am not getting involved with that."

* * *

 _ **PS: Did I forget to mention that this story is now at 1.2 million views and will most likely go over 6000 followers? Yeah, thats pretty amazing. Absolutely, fucking amazing. Thank you all for the continued support. Love the love!**_


	27. Chapter 27

**Rare pre-chapter warning: There's a lemon in this one. I know some of you don't like 'em, so feel free to skip them.** Its **clearly marked by bold, underlined, italicized letters.**

 _ **READ ON**_

 _ **IF YOU'RE READING THIS BECAUSE FANFICTION TOLD YOU THAT THE STORY HAS BEEN UPDATED, IT HAS NOT. I SIMPLY DELETED THE AUTHOR'S NOTE CHAPTER THAT DEALT WITH EXTRA LIFE. I WAS NOT AWARE THE DELETION OF THE CHAPTER WOULD SHOW UP AS AN UPDATE FOR ALL OF YOU. I APOLOGIZE FOR THE CONFUSION AND INCONVIENCE**_

* * *

People along the street that contained Naruto's shop were somewhat confused as they walked along the road one early morning. A repetitive hammering filled the air and mixed with the soft tweeting of faraway birds. The sound grew stronger as one approached the store until they eventually stumbled upon its cause.

Naruto hammered diligently at the front door of his shop. With a hammer in one hand and the other holding tightly onto a thin nail, the boy was hard at work despite the early hours. His burnt orange sweatpants and black t-shirt made him look more like a class-skipper than an actual shop owner.

"And done." The blond announced to himself as he stepped back to observe his handiwork. The small amount of light from the early morning sun provided just enough illumination for the blond to view his work.

"'No random God visits allowed. Appointments must be made'." The blond read the sign out loud. The words were written in bright orange paint and had a thick black line running under it. To either side sat a black swirl while a phone number stood in the upper right corner of the wooden sign.

" **This is not going to work**." Kurama's voice echoed out in the blond's mind as the beast viewed the sign.

" _It'll work. I'll make sure it will work. Now stop being so negative and play_." Naruto stated back as he moved to walk into his shop. With his hammer in one hand, the blond pushed open the glass doors to the shop and walked approximately ten steps into the building before making an abrupt stop.

"No, no, no, no, no, no! Out. Get out!" Naruto yelled as he stomped his way up to his counter. The single person sitting at the object turned in their seat to face the blond. The figure had only a moment to react before they were pushed out of the seat towards the door.

"You gods can't just keep popping up randomly into my shop. No more! Read the sign. No more random vi-" Naruto silenced himself when he felt his grip on the person suddenly disappear. The next thing the blond knew, his intruder landed a heavy elbow to his stomach and had a knife to his throat.

"You dare lay your hands on me?" At the sound of the feminine voice, Naruto began to realize that his intruder was actually female. A carefully slow glance up revealed an almost angelic, tan face that was framed with long auburn hair. A pair of deep and viridian eyes bore into his skull, spilling the intent to kill onto him.

"Yeah, I dare do." Naruto responded as he ducked his head beneath the knife just mere moments before it would've slid his throat. From his lowered position, the blond attempted to sweep the woman's feet from out under her, only to have her jump deftly over his attack. From her aerial position, the woman sent her knife hurtling down towards the blond. Naruto was forced to roll out the way, lest he get pierced, causing the knife to land dully in his floor.

"This is why you guys aren't allowed in my shop anymore. You broke my floor!" Naruto yelled as he dashed towards the woman. The instant her feet touched the ground, the blond was upon her. A jab launched by the shinobi was easily deflected by the woman, making her respond with an attempted hook strike. Before the hit could land, Naruto grabbed onto the woman's offending limb, and, with his new grip on her, sent her flying into the air. The strength behind the throw was enough to send the woman flying across the room into the stack of chair and tables leaned against the wall. Unable to right her flight in time, the unknown woman crashed into the assortment of stacked tables and chairs.

"I just made more of a mess for myself." Naruto mumbled to himself seconds before he was forced to duck down to avoid a table that was sent flying towards his head. The blond groaned when he heard the table slam into the wall behind him. The noise of wood shattering into a countless amount of splinters made him flinch. That was another mess he had to clean.

"Stop throwing my tables!" Naruto yell just as he was forced to grab a table out of the air. He gently set the piece of wood down, only to have to immediately grab a chair out of the air. Frustration quickly began to build up within the boy as he was continuously forced to catch table after table along with a few chairs. This pattern continued for a full minute before the blond decided enough was enough.

"Stop!" Naruto yelled. His shout went entirely ignored by the woman as she reached down to grab another table. Before she could wrap her fingers around the wooden surface, Naruto dashed towards her. By the time she had lifted the table above her head to throw it, the blond was in front of her. With her hands occupied, she was completely unable to block the heavy punch the blond sent careening into her stomach. With a dry heave and a fair bit of spit, the woman dropped the table to the ground with a resounding ground as she reached down to clutch her aching stomach.

"Savage." The woman muttered out as she held on to her stomach.

"Im a savage? Look what you've done to my shop!" Naruto exclaimed as he gestured towards the remains of some of his chairs and tables. Countless splinters, chair legs and half broken wood now scattered the floor of his room.

"You touched me! No man has the right to touch me, especially one as violent and hedonistic as you!" The woman shot back at the blond with full vigor. Her comment earned her a loud scoff from the boy.

"I dont know who you think you are nor do I do care, lady, But when you randomly show up to my shop, I have the right to kick your ass out whenever I want." This comment seemed to set off the mysterious woman as she rose up from curled up position with a new fire in her eyes.

"I am the goddess Artemis! I will not be trounced or walked over by some infant god who reeks of arrogance."

"Arrogance?" It was Naruto's turn to sound offended as he spoke. "How am I the arrogant one when you're the person who just appears randomly in MY shop and get mad when I tell you to get the hell out? Sounds like you're being the arrogant one there." Naruto shouted right back at the goddess. Silence settled in the shop as the anger within the Artemis' eyes began to slowly die down. Her form became much more relaxed as the tension within her body faded.

"Your point is well-constructed and has been received." Artemis came off as much more docile as she spoke. Naruto had to stop himself from slapping himself at the utter 180 in tone the goddess had undertaken. It was like watching a warrior suddenly transform into a princess.

"Though" Just as these thoughts were crossing the blond's mind, Artemis' eyes seemed to become lit once more. "That does not excuse the fact that you unnecessarily put your hands on me. I couldn't and still cannot let such an action 'go'. My actions were unneeded and I'll do my part in apologizing for it and the various damages caused by them." Artemis offered a curt bow of her head after talking.

"For once, one of these gods is making a bit of sense." Kurama voiced his opinion from the confines of his partner's mind. The blond couldn't help but agree. For someone who was supposed to be the number one man hater in existence, Artemis was actually acting pretty cordial and civil … at least now she was.

"I understand and accept your apology. I also see that trying to literally shove you out the door probably wasn't the best way to handle the situation, so I'm sorry too." Naruto offered up his own apology with a bow of his head.

"Understood and accepted." Artemis said before the shop descended into silence once more. With the animosity between the two now supposedly buried and done with, the two were left awkwardly standing in the middle of the wrecked store. The two spent several long, silent moments staring around at the wrecked remains of tables and chairs before someone spoke

"Due to my … over reaction, it is only fitting that I help fix what I have broken." Artemis spoke, breaking the silence. Naruto perked up at the sound of her voice as he observed the goddess close her eyes.

"Thanks! The shop opens in thirty minutes so we have to work quick to get this all cleaned up." At this, Artemis smirked before a soft chuckle left her lips.

"Do not worry. Thirty minutes is more than enough."

* * *

Koneko had long since learned to expect the unexpected when it came to her boyfriend. After encountering devils, angels, gods and dragons who all seemed to have some type of connection with the blond, she had decided that nothing was too far out of the realm of possibility when it came to him.

This line of thinking was put to the test, once again, as she pushed open the doors to his shop. After a long day of school, she had expected to stroll casually into the store, wave hello to some of the regulars that occupied the shop then take up residence on her boyfriend's lap where he would unload all of his leftover treats into her mouth.

Instead, she was greeted with a series of sights and sounds she would rather not have experienced. If she had to equate the sound of the inside of the shop to something, she would most likely say a bar. Her ears could pick up an almost innumerable amount of conversations taking place. All of them having a feminine tone behind them.

The sight that greeted her was even less appealing than the sound. A literal sea of young women occupied her boyfriend's shop. Every single seat was filled by girls, all of them wearing the same uniform. A mesh of dark-green colored cloaks protected their upper body while form fitting shorts covered their rears. The girls seemed rather excited about something as they happily talked and consumed the food around them.

"..." The girl said nothing for several seconds before beginning to walk through the sea of girls towards the front counter. The walk wasn't too difficult for her since the girls basically parted a way for her. As she reached halfway across the store, she spotted her boyfriend talking excitedly with a figure sat at his counter. From the long hair and the feminine curves, the Nekoshou swiftly deduced that the person he was talking to was female. Unconsciously, her pace increased as she came upon this realization. Despite her swift movements, her steps were soft and silent as she basically glided up to the duo.

"So, I was sitting in the middle of the forest and I-" Naruto found himself when interrupted when he felt a pair of hands land soundly on his thigh. Before he could react, he found that his girlfriend had suddenly occupied the empty space in his lap. The blond found himself effectively trapped within his seat as the Nekoshou pressed herself firmly into his body.

"I assume you know her." Artemis voiced while a single eyebrow arched itself higher on her face. As she looked down at her girl, the goddess was surprised to find the young devil returning her look with a hard glare. The woman could sense the tiniest amounts of hostility leaking out from girl, all of which was directed at her.

"Yes. She just so happens to be my girlfriend." As the blond spoke, he felt Koneko grab a strong hold of his hand and move it to the top of his head. Without any words or signs being exchanged, the blond automatically began to gently rub and scratch at the girl's scalp. Artemis noticed that the same instant that the blond started his action, the tension within the girl almost melted away fully.

"Well, I am Artemis, young maiden. It is nice to meet you."

"I'm no maiden." Koneko stared directly into the god's eyes as she spoke. Naruto sputtered at her words while the other girls at the counter blushed in slight embarrassment at the girl's words. Artemis had the most tame reaction as she simply raised an eyebrow at the girl's words.

"I apolo-"

"Aren't you the goddess that hates all men?" Koneko blurted out in the middle of Artemis' apology. This time, the Nekoshou's words had the effects of angering almost every female at the counter, including Artemis. The smile that had been present on the goddess' face only a minute prior had faded away as a deep frown took its place.

"I do not hate all men. I am just an avid admirer and supporter of the fairer sex." Artemis managed to keep her calm while she replied. It wouldn't do well to ignite a conflict between the god she had just buried the hatchet with.

"So you're a lesbian." Despite the dozens of conversations taking place within the store, Koneko's words managed to silence each and every person within the shop. All at once, dozens of glare were leveled onto the devil. Artemis was a part of the dozens as a downright murderous look crossed her face.

"What did you just call me?" Naruto wanted to groan at the low tone the goddess was using. All the work he had done to earn the trust was about to be wiped away by a single comment.

"A lesbian. You said you admired the fairer sex. That usually means that someone is interested in women." Koneko paused briefly to meet the angry looks that were being sent her way. "Makes sense with all these girls around you."

By the time the first girl could move her butt from her seat, a blond clone appeared behind them. It was only when they began to reach for the various knives and daggers that the clones actually moved to restrain them. All around the store, the group of hunters yelled and cursed at the young girls as they were held back by copies of the shop owner.

Artemis was among one of the few within the store to not move after Koneko spoke. Naruto and the Nekoshou were the remaining others. Instead of attempting to kill the girl, the goddess had instead settled on staring intensely at the youth.

"Child, your jealousy is palpable, even from this side of the counter." Even with the uproar that her girls were making, the woman's cold words could be heard by Koneko and her living seat.

"Why would I be jealous of a lesbian virgin?" Without any hesitation, the Nekoshou shot back with her own amount of chilled venom. Just like the goddess', the girl's words carried strong, even over the pack of angry women.

"Because even this virgin goddess would be able to tame your man better than you can, little devil cat.

When Naruto felt Koneko rise up slightly from his lap, he made the decision that the conversation had gone on for a little too long. He quickly wrapped his arms around the girl's waist before standing from his stool.

"I think that's enough talking." The blond quickly shouted before either woman could speak. He quickly turned towards the back room, and with Koneko still in his arms, marched into it. The teen managed to get halfway into the room before he deposited the girl onto the ground.

"Koneko." The devil refused to look up at her boyfriend. Now separated from the cause of her agitation, the consequences of Koneko's actions were crashing down upon her. The immaturity that fueled them filled her with shame beyond shame.

"Koneko, look at me." The exterior of Koneko's stubbornness began to break apart at the repeated sound of boyfriend's voice. The girl attempted to ignore the request, but, ever so slowly, she found herself looking up at the blond. Eventually, her eyes met with his cerulean ones.

No words were exchanged between the two as they stared into each other's eyes. They stood motionless for several seconds before Naruto dipped his head towards the girl. Koneko found her chin clutched within his grip before he seized her lips with his own.

An involuntary purr built up in her chest and reverberated through her throat as Naruto's lips burnt into her own. She couldn't care less as her full attention was on the kiss. Despite it being an action of silence, she could feel the full range of her boyfriend's emotion through the liplock. It was as if contact had unlocked the vault that contained Naruto's feelings. She could feel his happiness, his grief, his anger, his lust and, most of all, she could feel his love for her. The feeling was so strong that Koneko found herself drowned within it. Another involuntary moan left her as her mind blanked due to the overwhelming emotions.

As soon as the urge to breathe came to her, Koneko felt Naruto separate from her. Her eyes immediately sought out his in an attempt to confirm the storm of emotions she had just experienced. The cloudy blue eyes that stared back at her almost made the girl choke up. They spelled out a sea of affection that seemed to be reserved solely for her.

"Is that better?" Naruto's voice managed to keep the young girl from completely breaking down in the back of the shop. Koneko gave a small nod before rushing forward and capturing the blond's waist within her arms. It took only a moment for the blond to reciprocate the hug, locking the two into an affectionate embrace. The hug lasted for several long seconds before Naruto reluctantly pulled away.

"They're still out there." The blond mumbled low enough so that only she could hear him. Koneko nodded in understanding. There was no hesitation or doubt in her movements. The jealousy she had once felt was now experience she had just gone through made sure that there was no need for any of it.

"I understand." Koneko whispered back before offering the boy one of her rare smiles. Naruto immediately returned the gesture before consuming her small form in another hug. The contact lasted for several seconds before the blond released the girl from his grasp and turned to exit the room. The blond managed to make it two steps towards the door before he was suddenly halted as a hand grabbed tightly onto his wrist.

 ** _***Lemon***_**

When the blond turned to question Koneko, he was caught off-guard by the look in the girl's eyes. During his initial kiss with her, Naruto had opened his empathetic link to the devil, allowing his emotions to pour onto her. From the kiss, she was able to sense and feel every range of emotion that was contained within him. He had used it in the hopes of ridding her of her jealousy, and it seemed to work.

It also seemed to have the added effect of revealing his lust to the girl. The look on Koneko's face revealed that the lust had been well-received and was currently being reciprocated as she clutched almost desperately onto his arm.

"Naruto…" The way she spoke his name brought that lust roaring to the surface of his mind as a shiver ran down his spine. Her airy breath and lustful eyes were making it hard to pay attention to anything but her as she closed in on him once again.

"But Koneko…" The blond halted her approach with his arms. A subtle glance towards the entrance of the room revealed the cause of the boy's hesitation to the girl. But, even with hint given to her, Koneko broke through her boyfriend's lax attempt to hold him back and embraced him once more.

The blond had to hold in a groan as Koneko's body almost seemed to meld into his own. The heat that had been building up in the pit of his stomach exploded outwards at her touch, filling him with the same desire he had been just barely holding back. The devil seemed to sense that as she sent the front of her body grinding in closer to the blond, rubbing her hardening nipples and thigh against the boy's body. Any attempt at stopping the girl immediately died in teen's mind as a shadow clone formed to take his place behind the counter.

As instantly as the clone was created, Naruto dipped down to capture the girl's ass within his hands. The devil moved her lips to moaned but found herself impeded as she was quickly lifted into the air and forced into another kiss. It didn't take long for her to respond by wrapping her own arms around him, securing her place on his body.

Unlike the kiss they shared before, this one was fueled by only one thing. Lust. The two had already shown each other how much they loved each other. Now, it was time to show just how much they wanted.

Koneko wanted to release a gasp when she felt her back smack soundly against the wall, but was instead left whining when Naruto suddenly transitioned his lips to her neck. The girl sounded more like a dog than anything else as the blond attacked her throat with his lips. Each bite and lick sent a wave of arousal soaring down her spine where it eventually exited in her now wet pussy.

The Nekoshou couldn't help but grin when she felt her boyfriend move one of his hand to her lower leg. The boy wasn't wasting any time in getting to the main course of action. Their love for each other had been proven, so the foreplay could be skipped. They both knew what they and they both wanted it now.

The girl's grin was quickly wiped from her face as she forcibly bit her lip to hold in another moan. Naruto had bit a particular sensitive spot on the crook of her neck, nearly sending her cross-eyed. The blond seemed to be hitting all the right spots at the moment and it was driving the girl crazy.

After what seemed like forever, even though it was only for a few seconds, Naruto began to slide his hand up the girl's leg. Halfway through his journey, the blond found his goal facilitated as his fingers cut through a small stream of liquid. Seeking its source, the blond sped his hand's advancement and was surprised to see that nothing impeded his 'prize'.

"No panties." It was Naruto's turn to shiver as Koneko whispered the softly into his ears. The boy didn't know why but the way she said the words and the taboo surrounding her actions quickly drove him off the edge. His movements came off as a blur as he briefly relinquished his grip on his girlfriend's ass to free his straining cock. The organ came popping out of its prison in a wave of heat and pheromones that served to drive Koneko over that same edge.

"Inside of me." The girl didn't even need to say that as the blond was already in the process of doing so. His hands found their way back to the malleable flesh of her ass seconds before the full length of his cock invaded the confines of her vagina. Any pretenses of being loud left them both as their combined moans echoed throughout the room. Koneko screwed her eyes shut as she felt her pussy tremble and shake around her boyfriend's cock. Naruto was in a similar position as his member seemed to almost jump in joy within its new home.

The feeling only lasted for moment, however, as Naruto pulled back his hips, unsheathing himself from the girl. Koneko felt an involuntary hiss leave her lips from the loss of warmth and fullness, but was quickly silenced when the blond slammed back into her. Her body shook in tandem with the thrust as her skirt rode up the length of her leg and her breast bounced erratically within the confines of her bra. The power behind the blow stirred a wanting for more and the girl knew the perfect way to fulfill such a craving.

Naruto could only to himself when he felt Koneko raise her body from his. He could see that the girl was attempting to gain some type of control over the situation, and while he admired the decision, he knew he couldn't let it happen. So when he felt that just the tip of his cock was left inside the girl, he released his grip on her and thrusted upwards. The combined effort of gravity and his hips sent his cock spearing back into the girl's pussy, ripping a loud scream from her throat as an intense stab of pleasure was felt within her.

The blond didn't allow her any rest as he quickly retracted his hips, only to thrust back into her heated and wet folds. They welcomed his cock with happy ease each time as he hammered into her over and over. Each thrust elicited a grunt from the teen as he attempted to top the force behind each thrust. The blond gripped the girl's ass harder as he felt a splash over liquid spray over his fingers. It wouldn't do well to lose his grip now.

Koneko was in her own world of ecstasy as Naruto fucked her. Her plan on getting the blond to 'go wild' on her had effectively worked as he thrust in and out of her with reckless abandon. She could feel her pussy cry out in ecstasy as the boy's cock milked out every drop of cum from it. Each thrust sent the equivalent of a lightning strike through her lower body and drove her closer to ecstasy. All the girl could do was throw her head back and moan as her boyfriend fucked her closer and closer to the edge.

The girl didn't need to wait for long as one final thrust filled her pussy once more. No longer able to contain herself, a torrent of liquid flowed out of her and onto the boy's cock. A drawn out moan left her lips as she felt her body shake and spasm from the intense wave of pleasure running through it. The sensation lasted for several seconds before she felt herself go limp as all her energy left her.

 _ *****End Lemon*****_

"Better." Koneko mumbled into Naruto's chest. She smiled when she felt her pillow rumble from the boy's chuckling. Her smile quickly disappeared when she felt herself being lifted and removed from the blond.

"Now, I really have to get back out there." Naruto said the girl as he carried her over to the cot lying in the corner of the room. Koneko paid the boy's words barely any attention as sleep began to overtook her. The girl could barely put up any resistance as her boyfriend laid her onto the bundle of blankets. She did manage to smile when she felt a pair of lips land against her cheek. That was the last sensation she felt before sleep claimed her.

Naruto sighed as he redid the zipper to his pants. This day had spiraled into something completely different than what he had expected. Though, looking at his girlfriend's sleeping form, he couldn't exactly complain much.

"Lets just hope that Artemis and her gang has calmed down." The blond thought to himself as he straightened out his shirt. He gave one last quick glance down at himself to make sure everything was in order. Once satisfied, he sucked in a large breath before stepping through the curtain door of the backroom and into the front of the shop.

As soon as Naruto exited the back room of his shop, a dozen pair of eyes were placed upon him. With those eyes came a dozen blushing faces as they attempted to look everywhere but his face.

"Boss." Naruto looked over at his clone and saw that the copy was rubbing the back of his neck. His stomach immediately dropped at the sight as he knew that was the "I messed up in some type of way" sign.

"We … ah … we could hear you guys." It was Naruto's turn to blush as his words registered within his brain. The clone didn't have much time to bask in his originator's realization before he was promptly dispelled, leaving the blond to face the group of women alone.

"I see she wasn't merely jesting about not being a maiden." Artemis' words broke the silence of the situation. Her word seemed to drive the her followers deeper into embarrassment while bringing Naruto's attention onto her.

"Well...yeah." That was all the teen could say in response. Being caught having sex in the backroom of his shop by a goddess and her lackeys was definitely not part of his plans for the day.

"You seem to be taking this well .. at least better than they are." A quick glance around the shop offered the same results as before. Not a single female within the store met eyes with him. They all just simply blushed and looked away.

"In my household, what I just heard could be considered tame. You must've forgotten that I am a Greek goddess. I'm not as much as a prude as the legends and books make me out to be. I've had the misfortune of witnessing my father, brother, aunt, uncles, cousins, almost every single member of my extensive family having sex. They're a promiscuous bunch." Artemis casually wiped away the blond's worries with a wave of her hand.

"For a goddess of virginity, you seem to encounter a lot of sex." The blond's comment earned him a glare from the woman. Unlike the ones she had previously sent his way, this one didn't seem to hold the same malice that those had.

"For a god of sweets, you don't seem to act very sweet in your lovemaking." Naruto blushed at the woman's words but she got no further reaction from him. The initial embarrassment of getting caught had faded, leaving very little that could make him flustered.

"Koneko certainly wasn't complaining." The blond's mutterings were lost to the majority of the room as conversations began to pick up once more. Artemis was among one of the few who clearly heard the blond and showed it with a small chuckle, much to the boy's surprise. He had expected a much more prude reaction from the woman.

"Yes, yes … I've heard similar noises from my brother's temple. Some male, some female, both similar in tone." The goddess casually mentioned before taking a small sip from her cup. Naruto raised an eyebrow at the remark as he took a seat back down onto his stool.

"Oh really? What other interesting things happen on that mountain of yours?" Ever since reading up on some of the basic information of the gods, the blond had been curious on their daily lives. Artemis could prove to be a wealth of knowledge.

"Do you have the time to listen?" Artemis asked with a raised eyebrow. Naruto took a brief glance around at the shop. No one new had come into the shop and it seemed like it was going to stay that way for a while. With Koneko out of commission, he seemed like he had nothing but time on his hands.

"Sure. Lay it on me."

* * *

A shadow came to life on Kuoh's rooftops with a small pop and a puff of black smoke. The entity wasted no time with its seemingly new life as it danced over to the adjacent rooftop in a flurry of motion. Its stride was incredibly smooth and graceful as it almost seemed to glide from rooftop to rooftop with practiced ease. Its movements warranted no sound and left no marks as it carved its way through the night.

Its journey came to a sudden stop as its feet smacked against a rooftop. Nothing in particular made this rooftop stand out from any others. A small chimney could be seen, poking its head out on the other side of the roof. Wood pallets, rotten by time and rain, were stacked clumsily in one corner. All in all, the rooftop didn't look special at all.

What made it special was its location. Located directly across from the rooftop was an establishment owned by one Naruto Uzumaki. Even at the late hour, the shop was bustling as dozens of people could be seen within it. The blond could be seen from the rooftop, laughing and talking with a woman with long, auburn hair.

"Pathetic." The shadow spoke, revealing an almost silk-like voice. The darkness surrounding its head faded away in dark flakes, showing the sneering face of Loki as the god stared down at the shop.

"The newborn is already making allies with the Greeks." Loki muttered to himself as he recognized the brunette as the Greek goddess of the wild. His interactions with the woman were horrendously few.

"I shall feel no guilt for this then." Loki reached behind him into the pack that was strapped to his back. The god rummaged around in the bag for several seconds before an exclamatory chuckle left his lips, signaling he had found the object of his desire. With a slight pull, the god began to pull out an object that looked way too large for the dimensions of the pack.

The object was a spear, dictated by its pointed edge and long wooden shelf. The blade of the spear shined a dark green in the limited moonlight. Several mistletoes hung precariously from the weapons service.

"The weapon that killed Baldur. The kiss of death." Loki chuckled to himself at his rather fitting name. The mistletoe spear fiasco had been one of his favorite tricks he had played on the Norses. Even the punishment that followed it couldn't take away from the joy he felt at the gods' shocked faces when the weapon killed Baldur.

"A fitting weapon to end a virgin goddess." Loki thought out loud as he readied the weapon. The man took a javelin-esque stance as he aimed the tip of the spear at Artemis' unsuspecting head. With one throw, he would bring the full might of the Greek pantheon down upon the blond. The blond would be undoubtedly blamed for the murder as slipped away into the night, unsuspected and free of pursuit.

It was with this thought and a mighty heave that the god sent the spear flying down towards the unsuspecting god.

At least, that's what would've happened if the spear wasn't suddenly snatched out of the man's grip. With shock etched onto his face, the god turned around the confront his would-be thief. His heart sank down into his stomach when he came face to face with a rather agitated looking five-tailed dolphin horse.

" **Are you the horse molester?** " The deep voice of the creature froze the god on the spot. The man couldn't even debate the ridiculousness of the title as the beast towered over him, its body easily reaching over ten meters.

" **Answer me before I disembowel you with this toothpick**." The beast roared out after several seconds of silence. The god's mind began to catch up with his body as he moved to retrieve his spear from the odd hybrid giant.

"I am no molester. I am Loki, go-" That was all the god could get out before he found one of the beast's five tails wrapped firmly around his throat. His connection with the ground and his ability to breath were cut off as the dolphin-horse raised him from the roof until the two were eye level.

" **I've heard you've done things to my kind. Sick things that no male or female, god or not, are allowed to do**." Loki scratched uselessly at the creature's tail in an attempt to escape. For some odd reason, his shape-shifting and teleportation seemed to be inaccessible to him at the moment, leaving him to the beast's mercy.

" **These things cannot go unpunished. You'll consider what Naruto-san did to you as merciful when I'm done for you**." It was at this point in the conversation that the god noticed that one of the beast's tails was slowly wrapping its way around his leg. A sickening realization came upon the god as he stared back into the Kukuo's eyes.

" **The tables have turned, tiny man**."

The screams that echoed throughKuoh that night would forever be remembered by the wicked beast that caused them.

* * *

 **AN: For those of you who don't follow my RWBY crossover, this chapter was originally supposed to come out on the 12th. This decision was made in combination with my choice to give you guys two chapters by the end of Christmas Day. The plan is still in motion. I just wanted to inform you all of such.**

 **I hope that you all enjoyed the chapter. This chapter could be considered filler-ish compared to what I have planned for the next couple of chapters. Though, the introduction of Artemis was a bit vital. There is a particular reason I am introducing all these gods, so trust that** I'm **not just throwing them randomly into the story for no reason.**

 **If any of you are questioning why the hell Kukuo just randomly showed up out of nowhere, you'll see next chapter.**

 **Review with any questions, concerns, comments, suggestions, etc. Enjoy your weekend!**


	28. Chapter 28

"Naruto?"

The blond hummed in response at the sound of his name. He turned his head towards the voice and saw the concerned eyes of Rias Gremory staring back at him.

"Did you have anything to do with that?"

"What?" The shinobi seemed confused at the girl's question. Sitting at his counter was Rias' peerage in its entirety, Gasper included. The dhampire was covered from head to foot with a thick pair of oversized sweatpants and sweatshirt. Despite his nervousness at being out in public, the boy had been pretty enthusiastic in participating in the conversation the peerage had been sharing, the conversation Naruto had completely missed out on.

"The strange sightings around time?" Rias attempted to clarify. When she was once again met with a confused look from the shop owner, the girl decided that she needed to get a little bit more in depth.

"For the past couple of nights there has been several strange sightings around the city. Different beasts ranging from an oversized cat with two tails to a giant turtle swimming in a lake. The creatures all disappeared shortly after being sighted. I was just wondering if you knew anything about it." The girl finished. Naruto gave a thoughtful hum at the girl's words before he began to slowly return to his snack making.

"I haven't heard anything about it. I'll be sure to keep an eye out for any weird stuff though." The blond reassured the devil with a soft smile. This response seemed to satisfy the girl as she nodded at the boy before returning to her conversation with her peerage.

With Rias' attention now away from him, the blond dedicated his full focus onto his treats. The boy looked strangely serene as he carefully sculpted a tower out of whipped cream.

While outwardly the shinobi looked as calm as a nun, inwardly it was a completely different story. The blond was having a very different type of conversation with some of the tenants of his body.

" _Really? I let you guys out for one night and you get caught!_ " Naruto mentally yelled. His shout was met with a series of disgruntled mutterings that echoed throughout his mind.

" **I just want to point it that only Isobu and Matatabi got cau** -"

" **Shut your sand-covered mouth, Shukaku, before I set you on fire and seal it shut**." A vaguely female voice shouted out, interrupting the first voice. Silence followed the voice's outburst, showing that the original had wisely followed it's orders.

" **Look, Naruto-** kun," The feminine voice spoke up once more. " **We weren't aware of the surveillance equipment that this world contained**."

" _Okay, I can accept that. But, what about Isobu? You were laying in the middle of a lake. Just before sunset! How do you explain that?_ " Naruto asked through his mental link.

" **...I was hot**." Naruto sighed at the massive turtle's response. He didn't know what other response he expected from the creature, considering its soft-spoken nature.

" _Look, if I'm going to let you guys out more often, you ca-_ "

" **As much as I enjoy listening to you fuss at my idiotic siblings, you have guests.** " Kurama's voice cut right through the blond's sentence. Almost immediately, the shinobi switched his attention to what was occurring outside of his head.

"Naruto-kun!"

"Dulio." A small grin spread across the shopowner's face at the sight of exorcist. The man was dressed in his usual priest garments as he strode across the shop to the counter. His appearance caught the attention of Rias' entire peerage as they kept their eyes locked on the man, even as he took a seat at the counter next to him.

"I see business is going well." The man commented as he reached into one of his pockets. After some a small amount of digging around, the exorcist pulled out an unwrapped lollipop. With a deft flick of his wrist, the wrapping disappeared from sight and the lollipop was swiftly put into the blond's mouth.

"Yes, better than ever actually." At this, Naruto took a quick glance at some of the customers within his store. Nothing seemed too out of wack, if you ignored the various fox ears and tails attached to some of the customers. Though, that could be simply chalked up to a simple act of cosplay by the people. The shinobi assumed that was the reason his human customers weren't exactly freaking out as several Youkai ate only feet away from them.

"By the way," Naruto returned his attention back onto the exorcist. "Thanks for sticking up for me back in Heaven." The blond's casual remark earned him a small chuckle and a wave from the lollipop-lover.

"No problem at all. Michael was being a bit stuck up back there. I just wish he had actually listened to me instead of ordering a manhunt on you." The two shared a small laugh at their shared memory. Their laughter seemed to catch Rias' attention as she turned to face the duo. Her movement caught Dulio's attention as he turned his own head towards the girl.

"Ah, you're Sirzechs little sister, aren't ya? Rias, right?" Rias nodded slowly at being addressed so casually. Only a few weeks ago, Dulio would've been considered one of her greatest enemies. Now the man was addressing her like she was so long-lost friend.

"Yeah, I figured. He talked about you a bunch. Made the whole entire peace meeting take a bit longer than expected." And just like that, the awkwardness the girl was feeling dissipated as a groan left her mouth. To hear that her brother had managed to embarrass both himself and her in front of some of the most powerful creatures in existence trumped any type of residual animosity she felt towards the exorcist.

"You should've heard him. I'm almost 100% certain that he was signing the treaty just to impress his 'little Rias-chan'." The volume of Rias' groan increased in magnitude at Dulio's words. The angel let loose a loud laugh at the girl's ire for several seconds before turning his attention back on to Naruto.

"You got a little time to talk?" Dulio asked while licking away at his lollipop. Naruto raised an eyebrow at the question before setting down his can of whipped cream.

"What about?" The blond asked. His question caused the angel to send a side glance at the group of devils sat directly next to him. The man looked to be debating something for several seconds before coming to a conclusion with a lackadaisical shrug.

"A team."

"A team?"

"A team." Dulio confirmed the blond's question with a small nod. The angel removed the lollipop from his mouth before leaning his upper body against the counter.

"After everything that happened during the meeting with the magicians, the higher-ups of each faction decided that there needed to be some type of countermeasure in place of events like this from occurring. They realize that the union between the three factions is possibly one of the biggest ones in the history of … well history. It's obviously going to attract attention an-"

"Nope. Don't want to be a part of any group." The whipped cream was back in the blond's hand as he returned his focus back onto his desserts. A small chuckle greeted his ears several moments later, making him look up at the now laughing angel.

"You didn't even let me finish, man." The angel said in between his laughter. "But, I understand. I figured your answer would be no. It was my answer until my boss made me agree to it." Dulio said as he rose from his seat. He flashed a small smile towards his fellow blond before turning to face the door.

"Well, it was nice meeting with you. I'm sure Michael will send me back to try to convince you again, so I'll be seeing you later." The angel then stopped to look at the group of devils. By now, Rias and her peerage had been not so subtly spying in on the conversation and had their full attention on the man.

"I'll be seeing you all later. Adios." The man held his lollipop in the air towards the group before popping it back into his mouth and walking out of the store. The group of devils and 'a god' watched the man stroll down the sidewalk before disappearing from their sight around a corner.

"What did he mean when he said he'll see us later?" Surprisingly, Issei was the person to voice the thoughts of the group. The mysterious farewell by the man had managed to earn all of their curiosity.

"I don't know, but I do plan on finding out." Rias said as she scooted off her seat. She placed a small amount of bills on the counter's surface before turning to address her peerage.

"Lets head back to the club room for now." One by one, each of the devils rose from their seats and began to follow the girl out of the shop. Koneko was the last to leave since she stopped to receive a kiss from her boyfriend. The blond had managed to sneak in a bag of cookies into the girl's pockets as a surprise treat for her later. He watched with a small smile as she pushed past the doors of his shop and disappeared along with her friends around a corner.

The smile on his face soon disappeared as a light glow began to emit from below the counter. The shinobi glanced down and caught sight of a glowing seal on his wrist. With a silent sigh, the blond removed his apron from his waist before retreating into the back room. A second later, the blond came running back out and proceeded to refocus his attention back onto his whipped cream.

In reality, the real Naruto was no longer anywhere close to his shop. The teen arrived at his destination in a golden flash. Almost immediately, he turned towards the only couch in the room that so happened to be occupied by one infinite dragon god.

"You came…" Ophis stated as she removed her headphones from her ears. Naruto rolled his eyes at the girl's apathetic tone as he made his way over to her. With a loud grunt, the blond flopped onto the other end of the couch before stretching his legs over its edge.

"I told you I would. That's the whole point of the seal since you say the shop is too loud." The blond said as he stared up at his ceiling. His response came in the form of silence, prompting him after several seconds to bend his neck backward to look at the dragon. He saw that she had her gaze steadily locked onto him and that probably wouldn't be changing anytime soon.

"I … require your assistance." The dragon said after several long moments of silence and eye contact. Her words made the shinobi sit up from his laid out position. An inquisitive look was on his face as he leaned towards her.

"You need my help? What could be bothering the mighty Ophis so much that she needs my help." If she found the statement to be annoying, Ophis didn't show it as she continued to stare into Naruto's eyes.

"What you said before … the Khaos Brigade," The dragon paused and closed her eyes. For the first time since meeting her, Naruto heard the girl release a sigh. The sound was almost inaudible and lasted only for a short moment before she opened her eyes back up.

"They … are growing out of my control." Naruto blinked at her words. Even though they didn't seem like much, the gravity behind the girl's sentenced had managed to floor the shinobi, causing him to become slightly slack-jawed.

"So, you're saying you can't control the Khaos Brigade anymore?" Naruto's question earned him a harsh glare from the girl. She managed to hold up the look for several moments before it dropped as another sigh slipped past her lips.

"They're … like roaches. I find one nest and destroy them, and ten more replace them. My home now has a giant roach and tiny pests running around it." Naruto actually felt a twinge of sympathy within his chest at the sight of the obviously upset dragon. To have your home overtaken by some foreign presence was a horrible thing to go through. The blond knew that if Ophis hadn't attempted to kill him during their first meeting, he would be full sympathetic of the girl's plight.

Unfortunately for Ophis, she did attempt to kill the blond and hadn't admitted to still not wanting to do so, losing her a large amount of his sympathy. Plus her title as an actual god made him very skeptical of what he could do to actually help.

"What exactly do you need my help with?" The bond questioned more out of curiosity than anything else. He wasn't expecting any real solid response from the girl but he still wanted to hear how she would reply.

"Killing … them." The girl's tone was as deadpan as ever as she asked for assistance murdering hundreds of people. At this point within their relationship, the blond couldn't really find himself too shocked by her answer, causing him to just sigh and roll his eyes.

"You know I can't and won't do that." The blond replied. His words seemed to stir something within the dragon as she began to rise up from her seat.

"But with your clones…" Naruto turned to face the girl as his ears picked up on something he never heard in the dragon's voice. It was a small quiver, one similar to that of a child who was attempting to hold in tears. Even though her face did not reflect such emotion, that little fluctuation said it all for her.

For once, the dragon was actually hurting on an emotional level. Unlike any physical pain she may have felt during her battle with the Great Red or himself, she couldn't immediately heal from it. The fact that this was her first time experiencing anything of the sorts most likely made the pain that much more intense.

All of these factors added up to form an emotional cocktail within the blond. And despite what every single fiber of his common sense was telling him, he began to actually feel sorry for the dragon god … as odd as that sounded.

"...Have you tried talking with them?" Naruto inwardly sighed as the words slipped past his lips. Even in the end, he couldn't stop himself from at least attempting to hand out advice. He wouldn't stoop as low to do her killing for her but he would try to help.

"Talking…?" Ophis looked genuinely confused as she echoed Naruto's words. The blond huffed at her response before sitting up further in his seat.

"Yeah, talking. Asking them to leave? Being polite? Stuff like that." The shinobi attempted to be as clear as possible as he spoke. It was during these moments that the blond hated the lack of social interactions the dragon had.

"I … ordered the Great Red to leave. I … told the Khaos Brigade to halt their actions. They did not. I erased them." It took everything within the shinobi to not face palm at Ophis' words. That was the type of response he was hoping not to get.

"Okay. How about asking them nicely to leave? Maybe even saying please?" The blond offered. The completely apathetic look he received from the dragon gave him a pretty strong hint on how she felt about that suggestion.

"...Why should I say please when its my home?" Came Ophis' dry response. And, as much as the blond hated to admit it, she had a pretty good point. If someone was invading his home, he shouldn't have to say please to get them the hell out. He should have every right to literally kick them out the door.

"Unless they're a god." The blond corrected himself as he glanced over at Ophis. If that was the case, it was best to just wait it out.

"Well…" The blond paused to rack his brain for a response. He didn't want to just say 'go destroy everyone in your home' to the dragon, yet that was the only answer that was coming to his mind.

Fortunately for the blond, his decision-making time was put to a hold as a loud knock echoed throughout the room. A visible sense of relief overcame him as he rose from the couch and dashed towards the door. Without even checking to see who his guest was, the blond turned the knob and swung the door open.

"Naruto-San … we have a problem." The frown on Naruto's face dropped like a stone because standing at his doorstep was a haggard looking Kiba.

"Whats wrong? Is everyone okay? Is Koneko okay?" Naruto immediately fired off at the boy's statement. Mentally, the blond was already preparing to flash towards his girlfriend's location the second the devil confirmed his worries.

"Everyone is okay. You … you just need to see this." Inwardly, Naruto released a small sigh at the confirmation of his girlfriend's safety. He honestly didn't know how exactly he would've reacted to hearing that Koneko had gotten hurt somehow.

"Probably similar to how Ophis wants me to act towards the Khaos Brigade." The blond thought to himself as he turned to look back at the dragon. His jaw tightened when he noticed that she was no longer sat on his couch. He couldn't sense any anywhere in the house, leaving him to believe she had returned to back to the dimensional gap.

"Lets go, Kiba." The blond said as he turned his head back towards. The young devil nodded at him before taking off down the streets. Naruto threw one last glance back at his empty couch before shutting the door behind him and following after the devil.

* * *

" _This could be a problem_." The blond couldn't help but think to himself as he stood next to Rias' peerage. Night had overcome Kuoh, allowing the teens to release their devil features to the world. Koneko and Rias stood by his side while he worriedly directed his attention to the display in front of them.

The wall that the group was standing in front of belonged to Kuoh Academy. It's usually immaculate brick walls was tainted with what looked to be blood. The thick, viscous liquid dripped slowly down the surface, slightly obscuring its message.

"Death to the tainted birds and beast, and the new false god they follow." Issei read the writing out loud in a slow voice. Down the line of people, Naruto sighed out loud as his head met his hands.

"This is certainly an issue." The group turned to look at Sona as she spoke out loud. The girl seemed to be alone for once as her peerage was nowhere in sight. Her face was as serious as ever as she stared at the writing on the wall.

"I am assuming that you have already contacted your brother?" Rias nodded at her friend's question. The first thing she had done when she had stumbled upon the grotesque display was send a message to her brother. Despite how annoying she found the man, this was not something that she was going to hide from him.

"Who do you think did this?" Issei said, voicing the question that was on all of their minds. Silence followed him as each person within the small group mentally searched for an answer.

"Maybe an angel? They do mention tainted birds and beasts in the message. Sounds a lot like fallen angels and devils." Kiba spoke up. Almost immediately, Sona gave a negative shake of her head as she stepped forward towards the group.

"This amount of blood and violence from an angel? It doesn't seem very plausible, especially with the new treaty." The intellectual replied. Rias turned to face her old friend with a slight frown on her face.

"It could be a rogue angel. Someone who is on the crest of falling. It isn't too hard to believe that not every angel was very happy about the treaty between the factions. Some probably still held hard feelings towards us." Rias said in an attempt to reason with the class president. Sona didn't shake her head at this, but instead closed her eyes and allowed her head to fall slightly.

"Once again, plausible. But let us not make any assumptions concerning this matter. The new treaty complicates things, especially if one of the other factions had a hand in this. We'll simply wait for Sirzechs-Sama's reply and move from there." The heiress responded.

"What about tomorrow when school starts? We can't let our classmates see this." Issei spoke up. It wouldn't do well for the Academy's reputation if word got out that someone did something like this on school property.

"I'll have it covered up by my peerage later tonight. I'll run the story that a group of delinquents vandalized the school during the night." Sona fired back. As the members of Rias' peerage nodded at her words, Naruto had to mentally sing his praise for her. It was an amazing show of leadership to be able to come up with a thorough plan so quickly, especially with so many stakes on the table.

"What do you think about all of this, Naruto-kun?" The blond turned his attention to his right as Akeno voiced her question. A small frown graced his features as he stood silently staring at the girl for a few moments before returning his attention back towards the wall.

"I think Sona's plan is a good one. There's no need for us to act rash." The blond responded. His response seemed to be enough for the girl as she nodded before turning to Rias.

"Okay. Lets head back to the club room and wait for my idiotic brother to reply to my message. Hopefully, he doesn't take forever like he usually does." The redhead sounded agitated as she spoke. Naruto couldn't help but chuckle at the girl's dislike of the man. It was pretty endearing to witness the relationship between the two.

As a group, Rias left with her peerage. Koneko was the last one to leave as she received a hug from the thoughtful blond. Once she had gone, only Sona and Naruto were left at the wall. The two stood in shared silence for a long period of time, simply staring forward at the wall in front of them.

"Naruto-san…" The class president was the one to break the silence as she called out her companion's name. At the sound of his name, Naruto turned his head towards her. He was surprised to find that the unflappable mask that had just been in place in front of her friends had fallen. Now, he could see the raw emotion, mainly worry and anxiety, clear as day on her face.

"What do you think of this?" Naruto blinked at the girl before turning his head back towards the wall. He remained silent for several seconds, seconds which felt like hours to the young devil, before opening his mouth.

"I think you made the right decision. I have a feeling, probably the same feeling you have, that this is going to be a lot bigger than it originally seemed. Not getting ahead of ourselves is the best way to go for right now." Out of the corner of his eyes, Naruto saw the girl visibly relax at his words, filling him with a small amount of confusion. Sona and him hadn't really been close enough for him to think such a simple statement from himself could earn such a reaction.

" **Idiot, you're not looking at this from the right angle**." Naruto's confusion was further increased as his original partner, Kurama, spoke up.

" _What do you mean?_ "

" **Look at her.** " With a soft grumble, Naruto briefly returned his attention back onto the young Sitri. He was surprised to find that he seemed to have the girl's full attention as she looked solely at him.

" **She is quite literally looking up to you**."

" _But why, though?_ " The blond questioned, earning him another sigh from his partner.

" **Because you're a 'god'. Because you're an accomplished shop owner. Because you've managed to save her and her friends multiple times. Because you have earned the respect of some of the most powerful creatures in this universe, including her sister, somehow. Are you honestly not seeing this?** "

" _Well … when you break it down like that…_ " Naruto honestly did feel a bit stupid after Kurama's explanation. It made sense that the girl would at least have some sort of admiration when it came to him.

"You've done a really good job keeping this school together and running. Just keep doing what you've been doing and everything will turn out well." Naruto finally spoke out loud after his extended period of silence. He watched as the girl's face lit up in surprise at his words before quickly settling. She offered him a small nod before turning her back to the blond and the wall.

"Thank you for the advice, Naruto-san. Know that it is greatly valued and cherished." Now, It was Naruto's turn to be surprised. The girl's wordings was very odd, weird even. He didn't have much time to question her about it before she was already too far away.

"All of this is just too confusing." The blond huffed out loud. He had expended all his mental energy for the day.

"Time to get some rest. I'll deal with all this in the morning." And with that, the blond disappeared off campus in a golden flash.

* * *

Naruto had expected that when he stepped into his house, he would be able to immediately head to his bed and take a well-deserved nap. He figured in the worst case scenario that Ophis would've returned wherever she had disappeared to and would be waiting for him at home. The dragon's completely anti-social attitude would mean their conversation would most likely be a short one, giving him plenty of time to rest.

That was not the case, however. As much as the teen wished that was the case, it wasn't going to be. He knew that as soon as he opened the door to his home. The two people that greeted him spelled that out very clearly to him.

"Naru-kun!" Naruto ducked out of the way to avoid a flying hug from an obviously excited Kuroka. As the girl smacked soundly into the closed door behind him, the blond couldn't find it within himself to feel much pity as he gazed up at his second guest.

"You've missed 87 days of work and now you think you can just show up to my house randomly?" Naruto questioned his wayward employee. Vali didn't look the least perturbed by his boss' words as he remained standing still in the blond's living room.

"I don't work at your stupid shop anymore." The devil replied. Naruto scoffed at the boy's words as he made his way deeper into his home.

"You sure do until I fire you or I get a letter of resignation." The shinobi said as he collapsed down onto his couch. From the corner of his eye, he could see Kuroka picking herself up from her jump. It didn't take very long for the Nekoshou to make her way over to the couch he was occupying and plop herself down onto his outstretched legs. The teen didn't even bother telling her to move, much to her pleasure, as he kept his attention on the descendant of Lucifer.

"Why exactly are you both of you in my house?" Naruto finally spat out the question. The sudden reappearance of the duo in his home at the exact same time couldn't lead to anything but horrible things for him. The sigh that Vali let out after his question only served to confirm his thoughts.

"We came here to warn you, Naru-kun." The teen cut his eyes over at Kuroka as she spoke. Her usual playful demeanor seemed what repressed while she sat on his legs.

"Warn me about what?" Naruto spoke as he sat up on the couch. If something managed to rattle Kuroka's mood then it must've been big.

"It's the Khaos Brigade." Vali started. "They've overstepped their boundaries. Cao Cao, that egomaniac freak, has all-" That was all the devil could manage to get out before a loud screeching suddenly filled the room. Kuroka collapsed onto the floor, screaming loudly while clutching at her ears, while Vali collapsed down to his knees. Naruto was the only one who didn't seem affected.

"Thank Kami for chakra." The shinobi thought to himself as he kept the flow of chakra constant in his ears. Without it, he was sure that he would be in the same position as Vali and Kuroka.

It was because he was unaffected by the noise that the teen was aware enough to notice the rippling in the air that was taking place in the middle of his living room. Just as the rippling reached a climax, the very fabric of space seemed to come apart as a rip formed in the boy's room. Naruto had only a second to react as a small body came shooting out of the rip. He quickly leaped up the couch and caught the body-turned-projectile before it could slam into one of his walls. As Naruto fell back to the floor, he managed to catch the briefest of glimpses into the tear before it suddenly closed, silencing the shrieking sound.

"That was unexpected." The blond couldn't help but think to himself as the shrieking stop. He took a brief glance over to Vali and Kuroka and saw that the two were slowly recovering from having their ears blasted. Seeing that the two were in a somewhat better shape, he directed his attention back onto the object he had caught from the dimensional tear. His eyes widened exponentially when he noticed just who exactly he was holding.

It was obviously Ophis but something was very different about the girl. The usual aura of power that unconsciously radiated from her had been suppressed to just a dwindling flame. The girl was shaking as if she was suffering from frostbite. Her skin looked pale, even paler than its usual color. Lastly, her gray eyes looked a sickly shade of black. Naruto could just make them out through the girl's partially opened eyes as he cradled her body.

"What the hell happened to you?" This was by far the most confusing and potentially terrifying thing that had occurred to him since arriving. If someone, or something, managed to inflict such a large amount of damage to the dragon, then that thing had an unimaginable amount of power.

"I…" Naruto strained his ears to hear the girl's voice. Its usual soft volume was even lower now that she was in this condition.

"I …. tried talking. It …. didn't work." And with those words, the dragon fell unconscious, leaving herself in the care of one very confused shop owner.

* * *

 **AN: Merry Christmas to everyone. My Christmas gift to you is two chapters of** ASTSO **and two chapters of ROAS. I hope you enjoy. If you feel like you need to return that gift to me, you can do so by having a nice day. Don't let any petty Christmas drama get in the way of having a nice day.**

 **Review or pm me with any questions, suggestions, comments, concerns, recipes, just about anything. Enjoy your day! Peace!**


	29. Chapter 29

"I knew they planned on acting against her. I just didn't know it was going to be so quick." Vali sat idly on one of Naruto's foldable chairs with a white mug in his hand. To his side sat Kuroka in a similar chair with her own mug. The contents of their cups seemed vastly different, with Kuroka's looking as white as the moon while Vali's sat at a dark brown.

Across from the duo sat a rather interesting sight. It was a sight that neither thought they would ever witness in any sort of capacity within their lifetimes or in the afterlife.

Sitting on the sole couch of the room was Naruto and Ophis. The dragon was wrapped in a mass blankets, looking very similar to a swaddled child. The convulsions the girl had been having earlier seemed to have settled somewhat as her body only shook slightly under her wrappings.

What was interesting about the girl was her position. The god was quite literally snuggled into Naruto's side. Her head was laid comfortably in the boy's lap while the rest of the body sat very far into his own personal space. The blond looked only slightly bothered by the development as his hand rested calmly against the sleeping girl's scalp.

"Is one of you finally going to explain just what the hell happened? How did this happen to her?" Naruto glanced down at the shaking dragon with a large frown on his face. Despite everything that had happened between the two, it was worrying to see the dragon in this type of condition.

"That's what we came here to warn you about. I just didn't predict that they would move so quickly." Vali muttered the last sentence before taking a long sip from his mug. A low sigh left the devil's lips once he pulled the mug away from them.

"While I was gone from my 'job'," The devil made sure to throw up air quotes at this, causing Naruto to roll his eyes. "I was observing the Khaos Brigade. I had heard reports from some members of my group that they had been acting odd since Ophis had started visiting."

"Turns out they had teamed up with some evil god to hurt Ophis-san, Nya!~" Kuroka suddenly spoke up. This managed to earn her a glare from the young devil. She quickly responded by blowing the boy a raspberry, causing Vali to roll his eyes at her before returning his attention back onto Naruto.

"As crude as she put it, she is pretty much correct. Recently, a mysterious figure has been spending a lot of time in the dimensional gap. There's been a lot of whispers that the figure was a god. Which one, I'm not entirely sure of, but it must be a major one to cause this much damage." Vali finished. Naruto nodded at the boy's explanation, but a slight confusion still covered his expression.

"Is there even a god that could've managed to do this to her by themselves. Isn't she supposed to be … well pretty much all-powerful? Plus, why leave her like this? She feels more weak than hurt." If someone really did manage overpower the dragon god, the blond was sure she would be dead. Instead, she was left shivering like a child, but still very much alive.

"We're not entirely sure. Like I said, I thought we would have a little more time to investigate. I just came to warn you." The devil's cold nature came into view as he set his mug down and flashed Naruto his usual apathetic look.

"Nya, don't lie, Val-chan. I remember you saying just how worried about Naruto-kun and how you had to warn him as soon as possible." Kuroka teased with a coy smile on her lips. As soon as the words finished leaving her mouth, Vali whipped towards her with a furious look on his face.

"Shut your mouth, woman. I said no such thing." The devil barked out loudly to the Nekoshou. Kuroka didn't look the least bit perturbed by the shout. If anything, the smile on her face only grew larger by the boy's agitation.

"Don't be shy now. When we were living together, you couldn't help but talk about him all the ti-" Kuroka stopped talking in order to duck a flying mug. A loud cackle left her throat as she took off towards the kitchen with Vali hot on her heels. While the Nekoshou looked as happy as she could be as she ran, Vali's face was a furious mask mixed with a tinge of embarrassment could be seen by the blush on his cheeks.

"You keep your lying mouth shut. I am tired of hearing your voice!" The devil's shout was followed by a loud giggle which only seemed to heighten his agitation. He soon disappeared into the kitchen after the Nekoshou. Several seconds later, loud banging and crashing could be heard coming from the room, followed by more giggling from Kuroka and cursing from Vali.

"They better not break any of my ramen packets." The blond thought to himself before standing up from the couch with Ophis in his arms. For some reason, he was slightly caught off guard at how light she was. His view of her as a nearly unlimited being of power had obscured the fact that she was still in the form of a child.

"This is not how I expected our relationship to turn out." Naruto thought to himself as he stared down at the girl. If it wasn't for the sporadic shaking her body was doing, she would've looked oddly at peace. Her appearance really did make her look like an innocent young girl. It was odd how such a simple disguise could hide so much power.

"Though, is it really a disguise?" Naruto thought to himself as he walked her to the guest room of the house. If it were a disguise, he been somewhat aware of the girl's true mass. As a dragon, she should've weighed a lot more than he could carry. Instead, she seemed to weigh even less than Koneko did.

As Naruto debated the idea whether Ophis' disguise truly was a disguise, he entered the guest room. Almost absentmindedly, he laid the girl down onto the room's bed. With the dragon now out of his hands, Naruto stood awkwardly over the side of the bed, looking down at the resting girl with a soft gleam in his eye.

"Should I?" The blond thought to himself as he stared down at the defenseless dragon. Due to the nature of their relationship, he would most likely never get another chance like this.

"Might as well." Naruto reasoned to himself as he began to reach down towards the girl. His movements were slow as his hand steadily approached the girl. He didn't want to disturb the girl from her sleep and see what he was trying to do. Even in her weakened state, Naruto had a hunch that she could still cause quite a bit of damage if she wanted.

It took several long seconds of careful movements but eventually Naruto got to the point that his finger was only an inch or two away from the girl's face. He hesitated only for a second before he pushed his finger forward into her cheek. His eyes widened when his finger met flesh.

"So soft." The shinobi couldn't help but think to himself as he poked Ophis' cheek. As soon as he realized that he had actually thought such a thing, the teen quickly retracted his hand as if he had fire. Unfortunately for him, his sudden movement seemed to have roused Ophis from her unconsciousness as she began to stir. Slowly, her eyes began to open as she became aware of the world. It took her several seconds for to fully awake, and when she did, she immediately locked eyes with Naruto.

The two remained staring at each other for several seconds. No words were exchanged between during the time. The awkwardness the blond had been feeling earlier seemed to fill the room the longer the silence continued.

"Why … am I wrapped up?" Ophis finally broke the silence with her question. Naruto glanced down at her body and saw that the dragon had been silently struggling to break free from her prison of blankets during their silence.

"You were shaking so I figured you were cold. The blankets were supposed to keep you warm." Naruto explained. His explanation earned him a dead-eyed expression from Ophis as she briefly stopped in her struggling.

"I am not cold."

"Oh…" Naruto stated before reaching down to free the girl from her bondage.

"This is pretty tight." The shinobi couldn't help but think to himself as he briefly struggled with the blanket bindings. It took him a bit of effort, but, after several seconds, he managed to undo the wrap. The blankets fell to Ophis' side, allowing to stretch her limbs. The shinobi allowed the girl to do so. In the meantime, he took a seat onto the bed.

"It didn't work." Naruto had to strain his ears to hear the girl's voice. He turned to face her and saw that she had her head angled down towards the bed.

"What?" The blond questioned. He hadn't fully heard what the dragon had said and the curious side of him demanded he know.

"I … asked," Ophis started off in the same soft voice. "They did not listen. So … I killed them. I killed most of them until.." The dragon paused at this point. Naruto watched in shock as she began to shake. With her face hidden from him, he couldn't tell if it was out of anger or sadness.

"They … they took my power. They stole it. That … human and the dragon." Naruto could almost taste the venom within Ophis' voice. As she raised her head, the shinobi could see that the shaking was clearly coming from her anger. Her face screamed murder as her eyes stabbed into his own.

"I'll destroy them. I will erase them. I will get back what is mine. They stole what is mine so I shall reap their souls!" For one of the few times since their original meeting, Ophis' voice rose to a shout. Her face was showing the most emotion it had shown in years as it twisted into a hate-filled visage. Even in her weakened form, her power caused a physical reaction within the room as the bed and furniture creaked loudly in response to it.

As all of this was occurring, Naruto could do nothing but look sadly at the girl. He didn't even need the use of his empathetic abilities to tell that she was in a lot of pain. Any pain she may have felt at being betrayed was probably massively overwhelmed by the fact that someone stole a literal part of her from her.

"I'll help." Naruto's voice managed to cut through the girl's anger. Within a moment, the rage that had been so apparent within her seemed to dissipate as confusion took its place. She slowly settled down back onto the bed while staring at the blond.

"What … did you say?" Ophis slowly questioned. Naruto sighed at her question before looking directly at her face.

"I said I would help. At least in terms of getting your powers back." The shinobi explained almost solemnly to the girl. His explanation seemed to have no affect on the girl's conclusion as she simply blinked owlishly at him.

"Why?" Naruto wanted to groan at the question. The dragon was making it very difficult for him to show his sympathy.

"Because no one deserves to have their home and power taken away from them. Plus … I trust you with your power than any other person." The blond muttered the last statement beneath his breath. Even with the low volume of his voice, Ophis seemed to pick up on his mutterings as the confusion on her face cleared.

"Trust…" The girl whispered before descending into silence. A large part of the shinobi wanted to further explain his statement to the god while his other half demanded that he let it rest. The confused, yet pondering look on her face eventually allowed the latter half to win out as he rose from the bed.

"I'll help you Ophis. But, for now, just try to rest a little. If you need anything, feel free to use the seal." The teen's words seemed to go completely over the dragon's head as she gave no physical reaction to even hearing it. Naruto decided not the press the issue and simply decided to quietly exit the room. He softly shut the door behind him and moved to make his way to his kitchen for a snack before promptly running into a crouched Kuroka.

"Ouchie, Nya!~" The Nekoshou exclaimed as she landed flat on her ass. Her hands moved to rub her sore and rather sizeable rear, only to stop when she noticed the blond was shooting down a disappointed look.

"What?" Kuroka questioned innocently. Unfortunately for her, she had been around Naruto enough for the teen to know that absolutely nothing was innocent about the devil.

"You were spying on our conversation." It wasn't a question in any sense. The shinobi was simply making an inarguable statement.

"I wasn't spying. I just so happened to walk by, Nya~." The look that she received from the blond clearly showed that he did not believe her one bit. Instead of keeping up the facade, the Nekoshou quickly relented as she climbed back up to her feet.

"Fine. I was spying." The girl admitted with a defeated look on her face. The defeat soon turned into a sly grin. "I think you're being so sweet by helping Ophis-chan out. You're such a hero, Nya!~"

Naruto rolled his eyes at the Nekoshou's words before walking past her towards his kitchen. Kuroka pouted at being ignored so easily by the teen before following after him.

"Dont be like that." Kuroka whined out as she followed the teen. Her words went entirely ignored by teen as he opened up the door to his fridge. The blond stuck his head into its cold environment and kept it in there for several seconds, seemingly searching for it. Eventually, he delved his hand into the machine and produced a jug of milk.

"Where did Vali go?" Naruto questioned before taking a quick swig from the jug. Kuroka stared entranced by the sight for several seconds before eventually snapping out of it.

"He left." The girl mewled out as she kept her eyes firmly locked onto Naruto. Because of this, she got to witness the moment that pure trepidation overcame the teen's features at her words.

"He left without you?" Naruto questioned hesitantly. When the girl nodded back at his questions, a low groan slipped through his lips. His arms and head seemed to be suddenly overcome by gravity as they both fell downwards.

"Mmmhm~. He told me he was tired of taking care of me, that big jerk. So~, it looks like we're roomies again!" The girl shouted out excitedly as she threw her hands up. She glanced over at Naruto to see if the blond was mirroring her looks, and found that he was doing nothing of the sorts. The completely apathetic look that she was giving him said the exact opposite.

"Y'know, with Ophis all messed up, the guest room is taken. That means that there was nowhere else for me to stay except for…" The devil trailed off as she shot Naruto a pointed look. Inwardly, she was hoping that the boy would pick up on her hin-

"You can sleep on the couch." And, all the hope that Kuroka had immediately came crashing down. She began to pout childishly at the blond's decision.

"Only on one condition though." The pout on the devil's disappeared at Naruto's words. Her expression turned into one of curiosity as she locked eyes with him.

"You're going to confront Koneko." And just like that, any enthusiasm that the Nekoshou had came shooting out of her at the blond's demand.

"Nya… you know I c-"

"You can and you will if you want to stay with me. Im not going to force you to do anything but I wont let your presence in my home affect my relationship with my girlfriend. You're her sister and you should at least speak with her." Naruto firmly stated, dashing away any of Kuroka's hopes of talking her way out of the situation. The look on the teen's face solidified his seriousness as it was set in the stone cold mask. It was the meanest she had ever seen the blond.

"I … I…" The woman stuttered. Conflict was clear on her face for several seconds as she attempted to think some way out of the situation. Eventually both her mind and body decided enough was enough and relented, causing her to release a defeated sigh.

"Fine. Ill talk to her soo-"

"Tomorrow." For one of the first times since meeting him, Kuroka felt herself become truly agitated at the blond. The stern way he was acting with her now was nothing like the way she had met him.

"Fine! You're so mean now that you're a fancy schmancy god, Nya!" The girl exclaimed as she threw her arms up in frustration. Despite the laws of gravity and motion existing, the movement didn't manage to jostle her breasts out of her dress.

"Well this god is taking a nap. Feel free to whatever is in the fridge. Just dont touch my ramen." Naruto paid zero attention to the woman's gravity defying breast as he walked back to his room. Kuroka watched the teen walk down his hall before disappearing around a corner. Several seconds later, a soft slam resonated through the air.

"Such a asshole, Nya!" Kuroka grumbled out before heading over to the blond's fridge. Just because the teen was going to act mean to her didn't mean she would stop herself from enjoying a well-stocked fridge.

* * *

She was nervous. Why was she so nervous? She shouldn't be this nervous. It wasn't healthy for her.

"Stop being nervous." Kuroka thought to himself, unknowingly mimicking the words Naruto spoke out loud at the same instant. Unfortunately for her, she was so caught up in her own thoughts that she didn't hear the teen. This caused him to lean over the counter and flick her temple.

"Hey! What was that for?" The Nekoshou exclaimed as her hands went up to nurse her forehead.

"You nervousness is distracting me. Just come down."

"Distracting you from what? There's no one in here!" Kuroka yelled while pointing to the mass of empty tables and chairs that sat behind her. Naruto didn't seem the least bit put off by the comment as he reached beneath the counter and produced a glass of strawberries.

"My job doesn't suddenly end when there's no customers in here. A shop owner is constantly working to make sure their shops are running at 100% efficiency." Naruto said while popping the top off of the jar.

"Nya, you're full of yourself. All you do is sit here and make treats." Kuroka responded with a roll of her eyes.

"It is much more than just making snacks. Its making a memorable experience for my customers."

"Bullshit!"

"Ask any one of my customers. They leave this shop satisfied hunger-wise and spiritually."

"You are so dram-" At that moment, the doors to the shop swung open. Kuroka stopped herself at the sound before turning her head to see who had walked into the shop. Her heart almost dropped out of her chest when she met with her little sister who was standing in the entrance of the store.

No words were exchanged between the two as they simply stared at each other. It had been several years since the two sisters had met and it was showing now. The nervousness that had been previously present within Kuroka exploded forth with much more intensity while Koneko stood apathetic. The disinterested look the younger girl was sending her only pushed the older Nekoshou's anxiety further forward.

"Shirone…" Kuroka found herself muttering without thinking. Her embarrassment had pushed her to say something and the girl's old name came spilling forth. She immediately knew that it was a mistake, especially when she noticed the devil twitch at the sound of her voice.

Despite the girl's supposed agitation with her sister, Koneko said nothing as she stepped forward into the store. The doors closed almost silently behind her while she made her way towards the counter. Both Kuroka's and Naruto's eyes were locked on her as she walked to the counter's entrance, entered into the employee space and made her way over to her boyfriend. Once again, no words were exchanged as they girl swiftly ascended the blond's lap and made her throne upon his lap.

Then silence. With her seat now captured, Koneko was free to continue her staring at Kuroka. If the older girl had been nervous before, she was much more now that the girl was so close. The Nekoshou actually began to perspire as her nervousness began to eat away at her.

"I … Shiro-" Kuroka managed to stutter out. Unfortunately for her, she would never get a chance to fully complete her sentence.

"My name is not Shirone. It is Koneko." Kuroka shut her mouth at the sound of her little sister's words. The girl had hurt her just then. She had hurt her bad. After all, she was the one who had helped name the girl. Though, her reaction was to be somewhat expected.

"Koneko…" Kuroka said slowly, as if she didn't know how to properly pronounce the word. It was foreign to her and felt foreign leaving her mouth, especially now as she looked down at the girl.

"Koneko." Kuroka stated much more firmly now. Unseen to Koneko, Naruto began to grin.

"I'm sorry." The Nekoshou started off. Her eyes instantly went back onto Koneko's face to search for any sign of a reaction. When she saw none, a small sigh slipped past her lips before she continued talking.

"I'm sorry for abandoning you. I'm … sorry for putting all this pressure on you. Im sorry for ruining your childhood. I'm sorry for making everything so difficult for you." By the end of her statement, Kuroka was basically in tears. Yet, even still, Koneko's face remained apathetic. The girl's face was just a mask of neutrality as she looked at the crying Nekoshou.

"I did it to protect you." The girl let out a hiccup as the tears came spilling out her eyes. "I just want you to know that. All I wanted to do was protect you. I know I didn't do a good job of it, but that's all I ever wanted." At this point, the girl's face was flushed as a constant stream of tears travelled down her face. She leaned her head to wipe her face clean with her sleeve before looking back up at Koneko. Kuroka's heart skipped another beat when she noticed that the young devil's face hadn't moved an inch during her spe. Any hopes of reaching her sister seemed to be slipping further and further away.

"I know." And, just like that, Kuroka's hopes came soaring back up. Her entire attention was focused on the girl as she awaited her next words.

"I know you tried to protect me, but you failed." And with a single sentence, Kuroka's hopes were dashed away. The girl's head fell in a vain attempt to hide the tears that had started to fall again.

"I don't hate you." Like an emotional roller-coaster, Kuroka found herself lifted up by her younger sister's words. "You couldn't have known for sure what would happen to me. You made the decision you thought would be best for me."

"So … you forgive me?" Kuroka questioned as she lifted her head up to look at Koneko. When the older Nekoshou spotted the girl nodding ever so slightly, jubilation erupted within. She rose up from her seat, reached over the counter and snatched the girl up into her arms before proceeding to dance around the shop with her.

"Nya! Imouto-chan forgives me, Imouto-chan forgives me, Imouto-chan for-"

"Put me down." Koneko's voice cut through her sister's excitement, briefly snapping her out of her trance. Kuroka shot the girl an apologetic grin before gently setting the girl back down onto the floor. With her feet back on the ground, Koneko turned to face the counter.

"Can we go home now?" The girl asked to her boyfriend. Naruto nodded at her question before making his way around the counter. While the blond was closing up, Kuroka nervously tapped her younger sister's shoulder, causing the girl to turn towards her with a raised eyebrow.

"Ah .. Koneko-chan. I should've told you this earlier but … Im stay-"

"I know." Koneko said, interrupting the older girl. Kuroka blinked owlishly at her response before confusion came crashing down on her.

"Wait… how did you know that but you didn't know I was going to be here today, Nya?" Kuroka questioned. Things weren't really adding up together well in her mind.

"Naruto told me." Koneko responded as straight-faced as always. This revelation almost floored Kuroka as she quickly turned to face Naruto who had just managed to get out from behind his counter.

"You told her?!" Kuroka screamed at the blond.

"Of course I did. I told her everything when I was 'taking my nap'. I have experience when it comes to surprises like this and it's not a good idea to just spring it on people." Naruto stated flippantly as he moved over towards Koneko. Kuroka could only stare baffled as her younger sister deftly climbed on top of the shinobi's shoulders.

"I really had nothing to worry about." The Nekoshou thought to herself as the duo settled into their piggyback ride. The fact that Koneko had been aware of her and still decided to see her meant that all the stressing she had done had been for absolutely nothing.

"C'mon Kuroka." The Nekoshou was snapped out of her thoughts by the sound of the blond's voice. She saw that the teen, along with her sister, was standing by the doors of the shop and were looking back at her.

"I'm coming, Nya!" The woman shouted before running towards the duo. As she ran, a large smile was present on her. She finally had the chance to make up for the biggest mistake in her life. She could finally make it up to her little sister.

She could finally step into a new chapter of her life.

* * *

 **AN: This would've been a nice place to end the chapter, eh?**

* * *

"I'm glad I took that nap." Naruto thought to himself. Kuroka walked slowly behind him, talking excitedly as she did. Nothing that the Nekoshou was saying really registered with the blond, but Kuroka seemed to either not notice or not care as she kept talking. Koneko had her head tucked into his collarbone and had seemingly stumbled off into sleep if her snores were anything to go by.

At the moment, none of that really mattered to Naruto. As cute as he found his girlfriend at that moment, she was only an afterthought. What was really holding his attention were the two people that were currently standing in front of the door of his house.

The first person was obviously female. The flowing black dress she had on did little to hide her body's natural curves. A huge black hat sat on top of her head and managed to hide most of her curly blonde hair. She had on a long blue cape that was covered in sparkles and pink flowers.

The other person … Naruto wasn't too sure if they were male or female. What he was sure of was the fact that this person was not human. The fact that the person looked to be a ten-foot tall wolf creature tipped the blond off to that. The two giant horns that protruded from the creature's forehead only confirmed his thoughts.

"Fey-chan and Wolfie!" Kuroka shouted excitedly before taking off towards Naruto's front door. Her shout managed to rouse Koneko out of her sleep, making the young girl raise her head to see what was going on.

"Giant wolf. Is he here to fight?" The Nekoshou said sleepily as soon as her eyes landed on her boyfriend's two guests.

"I don't think so. Kuroka knows them." The blond said in reply.

"Mmkay. Back to sleep." Koneko muttered before laying her head back onto the blond's shoulder. By the time the teen had managed to make his way, the girl was already back to sleep.

"Naru-kun, look. Some of my friends showed up!" Kuroka was beyond excited as she gestured towards blond. At this point, the blond was on the first step leading to his door, providing him a much clearer view of his guests.

"Yeah, that's definitely a wolf." Naruto thought to himself as he craned his neck upwards to look at the creature. The shinobi managed to catch a glimpse of the wolf's golden teeth behind its maw when the creature stared back at him.

"Why are your friends at my house?" Naruto questioned while looking over at Kuroka. His attention didn't stay on her for very long when the other female of the group cleared her throat.

"Hello, sir!" The girl started off excitedly. Naruto noted that the girl had a very thick foreign accent. He wasn't quite sure from where but it was definitely noticeable.

"You're Naruto, right?" Naruto nodded his head at her question, causing the smile on her face to blossom in size.

"Awesome! Well my friend and I were sent by Vali-sama to help protect Ophis-san." The girl finished with a small hop into the air. Naruto stared at her for several seconds before a sigh slipped past his lips.

"Does this protection involve you being near her all the time?" The blond's tired voice seemed to suck the energy out of the girl. She went quiet and still as a slightly perplexed look crossed her face.

"Well, yes. In order to make sure no harm comes to her, she will have to be under our constant observation." The magician explained. This meeting wasn't going quite as she had expected.

"Yeah, that's not going to happen." If Le Fay hadn't been confused before, she definitely was now. The teen's dismissive answer was the exact opposite of what she had expected.

"Why not?" The girl questioned while taking a subtle glance over to her partner. She could see that the wolf was eyeing the dismissive shop owner with no small amount of agitation in its body.

"Well, Ophis is staying in my house right now. You being around her would mean you would have to stay in my house a lot. I don't want that so you guys can leave." Naruto said before walking past the two towards his door. With his back turned to the duo, he missed Fenrir taking a threatening step towards him, only to be stopped by his female companion.

"Naruto," Le Fay started off, only for the sound of Naruto's door opening to interrupt. The girl had to put more strength into holding back her wolf partner as the child of Loki pushed harder against her.

"Even with Ophis in her weakened state, she still holds a significant role in the universe. We cannot let her be assaulted any further." Le Fay said in an attempt to reason with the teen. Unfortunately for her, she was attempting to argue with Naruto Uzumaki. She might as well have been talking to a brick wall.

"And she won't. If she's staying in my house, she is safe." The blond said over his shoulder, not even looking at the girl as he spoke. This seemed to be the breaking point for Fenrir as he ripped his arm out of Kuroka and Le Fay's grip and marched up to the blond.

"Look, you stubborn idiot. Some of the strongest people in the world have that dragon on their kill-list. I don't care how strong you think you are, you cannot protect that dragon. You're not strong enough, you're not smart enough and you can't be in two places at on-"

"Ey boss, Ophis is awake and said she's hungr-" One of Naruto's clone popped his head into the doorway, interrupting the Wolf's point. As soon as the clone realized that his creator was not alone, he shut his mouth.

"You can give her a cup of ramen. See how she likes it." The clone nodded at the originals orders before taking a quick look at Le Fay and Fenrir. The glance lasted only a second before the clone disappeared back into the house. With the clone now gone, Naruto turned back towards the wolf with a raised eyebrow.

"You were saying?" Naruto asked. Inwardly, the blond was cheering at the amazing timing of his clone. That exchange couldn't have gone any better.

"You're feeding the infinite dragon god ramen?" The wolf questioned in disbelief. Naruto turned a hard gaze on to the wolf at the sound of his questioning tone.

"Yeah, I am. What's wrong with ramen?"

"It's absolutely dis-" Fenrir's statement came to a quick close when Kuroka slammed her hand over his mouth. With his voice now effectively muffled, the blond's harsh gaze softened before he turned to Le Fay.

"Look, go back to Vali and tell him everything is good. I can handle Ophis. Also tell him to start coming to work." Those were Naruto's parting words to the girl before he walked into the confines of his house. As soon as the blond disappeared into his home, Kuroka removed her hand from Fenrir's mouth, allowing the wolf to turn to her and snarl.

"What the hell was that for?" The wolf growled out. Kuroka rolled her eyes at his agitated state before putting her hands on her hips.

"I just saved your life, Nya! Don't disrespect ramen in front of Naruto. Ever!" Kuroka yelled. Fenrir huffed at the girl's statement before turning away. It was obvious he wasn't too aware of the severity of his situation. With the wolf dealt with, Kuroka turned over to Le Fay who honestly looked pretty confused.

"Pen-chan, you should listen to Naruto. Go tell Val-kun that everything will be okay, Nya. Don't waste your time here." Kuroka stated cheerfully. Le Fay could only nod hesitantly at the Nekoshou's words. This seemed good enough for the well-endowed woman as she smiled the younger girl a large smile before walking into Naruto's house. The door slammed behind her a second after her exit, leaving Le Fay and Fenrir standing on the doorsteps alone.

"That didn't go well…"

* * *

"How's the ramen?"

"It … isn't horrible."

Naruto smiled at the response, knowing that was most likely the best response he could hope to get from the dragon. The duo was sat at the blond's dining room table, each with a cup of ramen in front of them. Kuroka's snores could be heard from the other room as the devil laid passed out on the couch. Koneko was nowhere to be seen or heard since she was buried in a mountain of blankets within the blond's room.

"How are you feeling?"

"...Better." Ophis whispered before taking in a spoonful of ramen. Naruto released a pleasant hum at the answer before going silent. The only sound present in the small room was the occasional scraping of the dragon's spoon against the ramen cup.

"Trust." Ophis mattered, breaking the silence and returning the shinobi's attention back to her.

"What did you say?" Naruto's voice made the girl look up from her ramen. It was at that moment that the two met eyes.

"If you … help me get my powers back … you will have my trust." The dragon said.

"Is that really what it will take?" Naruto questioned. When Ophis nodded in response, the blond grew silent. The silence only lasted for a few seconds before the blond erupted into laughter, slightly startling the dragon.

"If that's really all it takes then. Ophis, I'll help you get your powers back. And that is a promise. I never break my promises!" Naruto shined a bright smile at the dragon to finish off his promise. And, for one of the first times in her lifetime, Ophis found herself returning the smile with a small one of her own.

"Trust…"

* * *

 **AN: Merry Christmas to everyone. My Christmas gift to you is two chapters of** ASTSO **and two chapters of ROAS. I hope you enjoy. If you feel like you need to return that gift to me, you can do so by having a nice day. Don't let any petty Christmas drama get in the way of having a nice day.**

 **Hey! Plot is actually happening again!**

 **Review or pm me with any questions, suggestions, comments, concerns, recipes, just about anything. Enjoy your day! Peace!**


	30. Chapter 30

**Semi-important author's note at the end of the chapter!**

* * *

"...It reeked of death."

"It? You couldn't tell if it was a male or female."

"It .. was a skeleton."

"Ahhh." Naruto hummed gently to himself while writing into a small notebook. Across from him sat Ophis who had a half-eaten slice of cake in front of her. The duo was sat at one of the many tables within the blond's shop. The store itself was bustling, considering the early hours of the day.

"So we have a skeleton god that reeks of death that worked with a dragon that has the ability to steal your powers?" Naruto read from the notebook. When Ophis nodded in response, he sighed. He could already tell that this wasn't going to be as simple as he had hoped.

"Okay. I'll start asking around to see if I can find anyone that matches that description." Ophis nodded once again but said nothing as she instead focused her attention on to the rest of her cake. Naruto watched the dragon for several seconds as she steadily consumed the slice of red velvet before turning his attention to the main counter of his store.

"Naru-kun!" The shinobi shook his head at Kuroka's excited greeting. The girl was behind the counter of the store, dressed in her usual outfit but with one of the blond's trademark smocks covering her front. Even with the smock providing her a lot more decency than she usually had, the mass of male customers flocked around the counter made it clear that the garment didn't completely hide the devil's sexual appeal.

"Look what I made!" The woman shouted before holding up a cupcake. From his position behind the writhing mass of male customers, Naruto managed to get a good look at the creation.

" _That actually looks really good_." The shinobi thought to himself as he ran his eyes over the treat. The tiny desert was approximately 4 inches tall. Two inches of the cupcake was a golden, flaky dough that was shaped perfectly into a star. Tiny dots of red littered its surface. The other two inches of the treat was made up of a snow-white cream in the shape of a spiral. Countless sprinkles sat on top of the cream, giving the treat a very colorful appearance.

"Looks good, Kuroka!" Naruto shouted while giving the girl two thumbs up. She seemed to blush at his gesture before ducking her head back underneath the counter. When the mass of males saw that the object of their affection was no longer paying attention to them, they turned around aggressively to confront the cause. When they spotted the six-foot, lean, muscular, blond, smock covered form of one Naruto Uzumaki, they quickly turned back towards Kuroka. The blond shook his head at their behavior before beginning to towards the counter's entrance.

"Naruto-san!" The shinobi stopped in his track when a noticeable female voice made itself known over the stream of male voices. The teen turned towards the sound of the voice and was surprised to see Artemis striding her way towards him.

"I apologize for not scheduling an appointment," Naruto found himself chuckling at woman's attempt at a joke. Despite her reputation, he was quickly learning that she could be rather funny when she wanted.

"But I figured this occasion would not exactly require one." The woman said. Naruto cocked his head to the side out of curiosity before opening his mouth to speak.

"You're welcome here anytime. So, what do yo-"

"Ma'am, do you mind If I buy you a treat? You look like you could eat one. A slice of cake? Some cookies, maybe?" The blond was interrupted by one of the male customers that had been crowding around his counter only moments ago. It seemed that the guy had caught sight of Artemis and switched his libido-fueled attention onto the god.

Artemis gave the man a look over with a unhidden amount of disgust in her eyes. Instead of reacting verbally, the god raised her hand in front of the man's face, much to his curiosity. His curiosity came to a quick end when a flurry of golden powder erupted from the goddess' hand and slammed into his face.

Naruto watched as the man attempted to blink away the golden powder. With each blink the man took, his movements became slower and slower. It took almost a full minute of blinking but eventually Artemis' magic took effect as the man dropped to the floor, completely unconscious.

"Disgusting. That's no way to approach a woman." Artemis said as she looked down at the immobile. Naruto poked the man with the side of his foot, eliciting a rather snore from the male. After confirming that the man was still alive, Naruto moved his attention back onto Artemis.

"I don't think you'll mind if I move the conversation to the back of the shop, right?" Naruto asked her. At her nodded response, Naruto sent a quick glance over to one of his disguised clones, signaling for it to deal with the unconscious man before guiding the woman to the back room of the shop.

"Am I correct when I say that I spotted the Infinite Dragon God sat outside, eating cake?" Artemis as she stepped into the backroom. Naruto nodded his head in reply as he pulled out two chairs for them to sit on.

"Fascinating. Such a docile act from a creature of such power. It would be as if I managed to get Typhon to sit and have tea with me." Artemis said as she took the offered seat. Naruto didn't even bother correcting the woman's illusion of his 'control' over the dragon as he sat in his own seat. The two settled so that they were face to face with one another.

"Despite your control over the dragon, I came here to actually warn you." Artemis stated. Naruto raised an eyebrow at this while leaning slightly forward in his seat.

"Warn me about what?" The blond asked, his voice filled with curiosity.

"Hades."

"Hades? Your god of death?"

"Yes. My unfortunate uncle." Artemis sighed as she leaned back into her chair.

"Why are you warning me about him? Did he say he wanted to harm me?" Naruto asked out of curiosity. When Artemis gave a negative shake of her head, the blond grew more confused.

"He hasn't outright said he wanted to harm you…" The goddess paused momentarily.

"If he hasn't said that he wanted to harm me, how do you know?" Naruto questioned. As the goddess of the wild sighed again, the shinobi knew he probably wouldn't like the answer.

"My brother, Apollo … on top of being the god of the sun and a bunch of other things that I won't state because I know it fuels his ego, is the god of prophecies. This title grants him brief glances into the future. Yesterday, he came to me with a new one. One that involved Hades specifically plotting against you." The goddess finished, sending the room into silence. The silence hung in the air for several long seconds as Naruto contemplated the woman's words.

"Are your brother's visions always true?" Naruto asked, breaking the silence in the room.

"As much as it pains me to admit, yes. They're always correct in one form or another. I don't quite understand how it all works. I like to stick to the more practical things in life." Naruto let out a small huff before a chuckle left his lips. It was amusing to him to see a sibling rivalry play out on a godlike scale.

"Why would he want to hurt me? I haven't exactly done much to hurt him … I think." Naruto added the last statement as an afterthought. He still had a pretty large lacking of how gods operated, so for all he knew, something as simple as selling candy could've irritated the death god.

"Its … complicated." Artemis seemed to grow weary at this. Naruto raised an eyebrow as the woman released yet another sigh.

"My uncle is a prideful man. He has pride in himself. He has pride in his domain in the underworld. And, surprisingly, despite the treatment he receives from the others, he has pride in our pantheon. He believes the Greeks to be superior to all the other pantheons. This wouldn't be too much of an issue if he also did not believe that the existence of other pantheons is completely unnecessary and can only be a hindrance to the Greeks."

"Are you saying that because people think I'm a new god, your uncle wants to destroy me?" Artemis nodded slowly at his words, causing Naruto to groan loudly.

"He most likely sees you as an upstart that can be easily snuffed out. Unlike the other pantheons, he won't have to worry about the mass of followers or support from fellow gods within the same pantheon." The goddess explained.

"Just how strong exactly is your uncle?"

"He is considered as one of the ten strongest beings in existence."

" _Of course he is_." Naruto thought to himself. At this point within his life, he wasn't even surprised by the woman's answer. The presence of an ultra-powerful god wanting his death only seemed fitting.

"Well thank you, Artemis. Can't say I don't appreciate it." The blond said as he rose up from his seat. The goddess followed suit while offering the shinobi her hand.

"No problem at all. Your presence within this area has greatly benefited the health of the wild. I would hate for your influence to be snuffed out because of my wayward family." The woman spoke as Naruto shook her hand. The contact lasted only for a brief second before the two let go. With a small smile, the shinobi guided the woman out of the back room and back into the shop.

"Naru-kun!" The shinobi's attention was immediately drawn towards Kuroka as she shouted his name. The woman ran up to him and stopped only inches away from him with a worried look on her face.

"I don't think Vali…" Naruto had already begun to drown out the Nekoshou's words while his eyes drifted over to Ophis. A frown seized his lips when he noticed two people he had specifically told to stay away from the dragon were around her.

"Ophis-sama, please. We need you to come with us. You are in mortal danger."

"...No."

"Ophis-sam-"

"She already said no." Le Fay stopped herself when she heard Naruto's voice. Both Fenrir and her turned to see the teen standing menacingly behind him. His arms were folded across his chest while a large frown graced his face.

"I thought I told you guys to go back to Vali." Naruto said as he looked at the duo. His eyes briefly met with Fenrir's as the wolf flashed him an intimidating glare. The look was easily shaken off as he instead focused on the blond magician.

"We did … Vali-sama told us to come back." Le Fay started. Naruto let loose a grumble at her words before interjecting his body between the duo and Ophis.

"That's fine but I'm going to have to ask for you to stop harassing my customers." The blond said

"What if we buy something? Then we can be customers too and we can just sit he-"

"No," Ophis spoke up once more, stopping the magician's train of thought. At the interruption, the trio turned to look at the girl.

"I don't want you near me." The dragon said while staring at the two. When they didn't reply after several seconds, Ophis turned her attention over to Naruto.

"May I have more cake?" The dragon gently asked to the shinobi. At her words, the frown on his face instantly disappeared as a small smile took its place.

"Sure! Same flavor?"

"Ah … no, actually. I … may I have vanilla?"

"Frosting or no frosting?"

"...Frosting please." The heroic duo watched, completely stupefied, at the exchange going on between the dragon god and the shinobi. Ophis was acting so docile, even saying please. She had never done that in their presence before. They had never even seen the girl ask for something. She usually just demanded it.

Naruto gestured towards one of his clones, sending the copy running towards the counter. With his clone doing his actual job, Naruto turned back towards the duo.

"Now, can you order something or get the hell…" The blond trailed off as something caught his eye. He turned his attention past Le Fay and Fenrir, and towards the entrance of his shop. He had barely noticed only moments ago that the street outside of his shop had grown strangely still. Not a single pedestrian had walked by for minutes. He was now realizing why.

A figure was standing outside the entrance of his shop. Naruto couldn't exactly tell its gender considering the fact that it was clothed in a long, flowing black cloak that covered the entirety of its body. The figure seemed to be floating several inches off the ground. A scythe that was as figure's body was clutched in its bony hand.

"Pluto…" Naruto heard Le Fay whisper out the name. He vaguely sensed Fenrir shifting behind him as he kept his eyes locked onto the figure. It hadn't moved since he laid his eyes on it, making it seem like a statue.

"My brother is already sending his intimidation squad, I see." Naruto briefly took his attention away from the cloaked figure to look back at Artemis. The goddess had managed to work her way from behind the counter and now stood slightly behind him with her hands on her hips.

"This is one of Hades' henchmen?" Naruto questioned while looking back at the figure. Even with the broken eye contact, it hadn't moved a single inch from its spot.

"Yes. My uncle, as the god of death, employs the use of grim reapers to do his bidding. You are staring at the most notorious one beneath his control, Pluto. That creature is a disgrace to nature." Artemis commented in disgust as she stared at the figure.

"You don't like it?" Naruto asked, sensing the woman's disgust.

"It carries around death everywhere it goes. Whole forests have been laid waste by the creature. A single touch from its scythe is said to be able to bring instant death while grievously wounding gods."

"He sounds tough, eh?" Naruto said out loud to no one in particular. The idea of a death causing weapon wasn't too much of a scary topic to him considering his fight with Kaguya. Having to dodge her all-killing ash bones had built up a sort of immunity to the stuff.

"He is. Hades more than likely sent it here to intimidate you." The goddess was upset as she spoke. Even her loyalty to her pantheon wouldn't allow her to overlook the blatant intimidation attempt. It disgusted her beyond belief.

"Well, too bad for him. He wasted his time." The shinobi promptly turned away from the grim reaper. Artemis watched in shock as the blond casually accepted a plate full of cake from one of his henged clones. The goddess' eyes remained locked on his figure as he set the plate down in front of the Ophis, earning him an appreciative nod from the dragon. He returned the nod with a smile before beginning to make his way back towards his counter.

"You're just going to leave that thing out in front of the store?" Le Fay shouted just as Naruto reached the entrance of the counter. The blond briefly turned back towards her before looking at Pluto. He kept his eyes locked on the creature for several seconds before letting out a loud sigh while letting his head dropped.

"You're right. I'll deal with him." Naruto grumbled before trudging his way over to the entrance of his shop. Artemis, Fenrir and Le Fay watched anxiously as the blond placed his hand on the door before swiftly pushing it open.

"Hey!" The blond didn't bother to restrain the volume of the voice as he spoke. The grim reaper's presence had managed to scare away any would-be pedestrians from the scene.

"..." Pluto said nothing in response to the blond's shout. The grim reaper didn't even budge as the blond stepped from outside his shop and onto the sidewalk.

"You're bothering my customers and you're starting to irritate me, so I'll just say this once: leave and go tell your boss to leave me alone." Naruto's face was set in a stony mask as he spoke to the bringer of death. He attempted to peer past the creature's dark cowl but was only met with a dark expanse of nothingness. It was as if the creature had no face to begin with.

"..." Silence was Pluto's answer, causing Naruto to frown. The shinobi took a step towards it, eliciting the first response from the grim reaper. Pluto subtly strengthened his grip on his scythe as Naruto moved towards it.

With the taken step, Naruto was now only a foot away from the grim reaper. Even with his face set in his mask, the blond was struggling to hold in shivers. The creature in front of him literally radiated death. His empathetic abilities and his connection to nature weren't required to sense this. He could feel his skin slowly rotting away in the reaper's presence. Luckily for him, Kurama's chakra was doing a pretty good job in completely halting the decay.

"That's how it's going to be, eh?" Naruto asked, only to relieve more silence. The blond rolled his eyes at the expected response before reaching out with his right arm to push the reaper. It was then when Pluto struck.

The creature was completely silent as it moved. It glided its way out of Naruto's reach before sending it's scythe screaming towards the blond's midsection. The shinobi's other arm shot out and slammed against the weapon's shaft, stopping it in its tracks. Unknowingly, the blond's action earned him surprised gasps from the goddess inside of his shock. Due to him being outside the shop, Naruto remained ignorant to the noise as he hopped into the air in order to send a kick to Pluto's face. He ended up clicking his tongue in annoyance when the kick passed harmlessly through a cloud of black smoke.

"Another asshole with an overpowered ability to become intangible." Naruto couldn't help but mumble to himself as he watched the black smoke condense back into the form of Pluto several yards away down the street. The grim reaper didn't look the least bit bothered by the kick as it floated with its scythe in hand.

 _"Sage mode did the trick last time. Should work now._ " The blond thought to himself before briefly closing his eyes As he breathed, he began to draw in the natural energy of the world. What would've taken him half an hour at the beginning of his training now took seconds as his irises changed to the telltale bar shapes that indicated he was in sage mode.

The moment Naruto opened his eyes, he flashed towards the reaper. The creature didn't move an inch as the blond crossed the distance between the two within a flash. It was only when the shinobi was within striking distance that the reaper moved. He once again attempted to cut the blond in half with the scythe with a casual but swift swing of the weapon. Unlike before, Naruto opted to block the blade of the scythe with his arm. The weapon slammed against the skin as if it had hit steel, jarring Pluto's arm and earning him another round of shock from Artemis. Naruto continued his stint of ignorance to this as he instead focused on punching the reaper square in his cloak covered chest. Much to the shinobi's delight, his fist seemed to hit flesh as the reaper was sent flying backward from the force of the hit. Naruto watched as Pluto's figure tumbled down the street for dozens of yards before coming to a stop in a crumpled pile.

" _I guess these reapers can't take a hit_." Naruto couldn't help but think to himself as he stared at the downed form of the reaper. While his sage mode did provide him an exponential boost in terms of strength, he had thought that Hades' top man would've been able to take the hit.

" _Spoke too soon._ " He thought to himself just as Pluto began to move once more. The reaper slowly rose back up to its floating position, using its scythe as leverage during the whole ordeal. Once it was back standing, Pluto raised an unsteady finger towards the blond while tapping the butt of his scythe against the ground.

" _ **Infant god**_ …" Naruto had to stop himself from flinching at the horribly raspy sound the reaper made as it spoke. The noise seemed to grind away at his brain as it floated through the air.

" _ **My master has warned you. You haven't heeded that warning. Death awaits you**_." The creature gasped out before lowering its arm. With what looked to be a pained movement, Pluto raised his scythe above his head before slamming it back down into the pavement. Naruto watched as a black portal formed beneath its feet. The reaper remained floating over the portal for a brief moment, keeping its vision locked on Naruto, before slowly sinking down into the rift. The blond did nothing as the portal closed behind Pluto, restoring the street back to its normal countenance.

"That's probably going to be troublesome." Naruto rehashed his old friend's catchphrase as he relaxed. Almost like water breaching a dam, people began to flood the empty street now that Pluto was gone. The shinobi paid their presence no mind as he walked back into his store.

"Infant god. Can't be a coincidence that the both Pluto and the message on the wall called me that. It looks like Hades may really be the guy behind all of this." The blond let out a huff at this. Ever since being introduced to gods, it seemed like they had been the source of all the trouble in his life ever since. And that trouble didn't look to be stopping anytime soon.

Naruto was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't notice the shocked faces on the supernatural creatures as he passed them on his way to the counter. It was only when one his clones tapped him on the shoulder did the shinobi take notice of their expressions.

"You blocked Pluto's scythe with your forearm…" Naruto had to lean his head back as Artemis suddenly invaded his personal space. The goddess' face was full of wonder as she closely examined his unscathed arm.

"This is amazing. I've only seen my uncle do such a thing and that was only possible from affinity to death. It shouldn't be possible unless…" Artemis trailed off as she shifted her attention on to Naruto's face. The blond twitched uncomfortably under her gaze as she kept her grip tight on his arm.

"Unless what?" Naruto questioned after several moments of awkward silence. At his question, Artemis promptly released her hold on his arm and stood up straight with a blank expression on her face.

"I apologize. I hope my warning has proven effective. I must take my leave now." Before Naruto could question the woman's odd behavior, she turned her back on him and dashed out the store. He could only watch as she disappeared into thin air on the sidewalk, drawing shocked gasps and looks from the pedestrians.

" _That was odd … and it will probably bite me in the ass later_." Naruto thought to himself. He hadn't known the woman for very long but he had a pretty good sense of her to say that she probably didn't react like that very often. Especially in the presence of a male she just met.

"Naruto…" The blond turned his head towards the sound of the voice. He saw Ophis sat at her chair with a now empty plate in front of her.

"...Another please." The dragon requested. Naruto shook his head at her behavior before making his way over towards her. He had other issues to attend to that didn't involve death gods and weird behavior from nature gods. He had a shop to run.

"If you're not buying something, get the hell out of my shop! Stop bothering my customers."

It wasn't always an easy job.

* * *

 **AN: First, excuse me for the shortness of his chapter. I had absolutely zero plans on putting out a chapter before New Years but inspiration struck. I hope you all enjoyed it despite its briefness.**

 **Second, there's a poll on my profile! Every single time I post a chapter, I get close to** **a 100+ reviews** **along with dozens of private messages. I tend to reply to most that actually require a reply within the first couple days of updating but then I usually don't even log into my account during the writing process due to me working on the chapters on an outside source. I've gotten a lot of PMs that I have to end up replying to almost a week after they were sent due to me not even looking at them until then.**

 **It was because of this, along with the PMS that I've gotten that I have requested this exact thing, that I've decided to do something new. I want to introduce a new way for the people who actually want to interact with me or other people who have interests in my fics (or just fics in general) to do so. I figured the best two ways to do so would be either through skype or discord. Simply go to my profile and vote for which one you would like. I'll take down the poll once there is an obvious winner or whenever I post the next chapter.**

 **UPDATE TO THIS: Discord is blowing out Skype in the polls so I just made the discord chat. Go to my profile to get to the discord chat!**

 **Anyway, that's my spiel. I just want to thank you all once again. It is because of you all that this story is the #3 favorited Naruto/DxD crossover, #2 in terms of follows and #3 in terms of reviews. You guys have given me 1,350,000 views and over 3800 reviews. Thank you all so much for making this a great year for me. I hope you all have a great New Year!**


	31. Chapter 31

**We have a discord chat now! Go to my profile page or PM me for a link if you're interested in joining. Come talk about fanfics, general stuff, and mess with bots!**

* * *

Naruto was never really much of an early riser. His training had demanded him to be one, but even years of conditioning couldn't get rid of his hate for the early hours of the day. The erratic chirping of the birds and the seemingly burning intensity of the sun made him ponder why exactly anyone deemed it a good idea to actually wake up early. Even when he went out on his purification runs, he would have to go through a large amount of mental prep and coaxing just to get out of bed.

That was why Naruto had groaned as a knock echoed through his home. He felt something shift beneath his arm, causing him to smile as his mind momentarily left the knock at his front door. Almost instinctively, his arms tightened around the object as he brought it closer to his chest. The object reciprocated the hold as it snuggled deep into his body.

The endearing moment came to a close as another knock, this one much louder, reached their ears. This time, both occupants of the bed let loose groans as they reluctantly opened their eyes.

"They won't leave unless you answer…" Koneko's voice came out in a sleepy haze as she hid her head from the sun beneath the covers and Naruto's chest. The blond sighed, knowing that his girlfriend was correct, before summoning a clone at their bedside. The clone immediately headed out the room, assumingly to go answer the door.

"There." Naruto huffed out before wrapping his free arm around Koneko. The smile on the Nekoshou's face made it quite clear she enjoyed the contact. The aura of warmth and comfort Naruto usually radiated seemed to increase tenfold whenever she was in bed with him. Their proximity in bed left her almost drowning in it, filling her with a sense of satisfaction that no one or nothing else could bring.

Naruto couldn't help but wonder to himself just how he ended up in such an amazing situation as Koneko unconsciously purr beneath his touch. As her chest rose and fell beneath him, he smiled. Just the sound and feel of her breathing had elicited such a positive response from him. He couldn't imagine anything that could ruin the moment.

"Boss," And just like that, he had been proved wrong yet again. Naruto brought his head up and aimed a glare that screamed 'Why the hell are you bothering me' at the innocent clone. The copy rolled his eyes at his creator's pissy attitude as he leaned casually against the doorway.

"Michael called a meeting among the factions. He said it's absolutely important that you attend." The clone watched as his creator flopped his head back down onto the bed with a loud sigh. After smirking at the overblown reaction, it disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving the two lovers alone once more.

"Should I go?" Naruto questioned out loud. If the blond was being honest with himself, he was really just looking for an excuse not to attend the meeting. A no from Koneko would've been good enough for him.

"Yes. Could be important." Naruto sighed again at her answer. That hadn't been the answer he was hoping for. He would've been content with staying in bed, holding Koneko like she was an oversized teddy bear while they both slept. But instead, he now had to get dressed and go meet with a bunch of old guys.

"But, before you go." Naruto was momentarily brought out of his depressed mood when he felt Koneko shift herself so her ass was directly over his lap. The thin pair of boxers that hid his private parts from the world did little to halt the sensation of the Nekoshou rubbing her scantily clad ass against his crotch. Against his will, but no against his wanting, his lower body responded in turn as he met eyes with her. The small smirk on her face made her intentions very clear as Naruto felt her slowly begin to guide his hands down her body.

"Let's make them wait a little."

* * *

"Took you long enough." Azazel commented as Naruto sauntered into the room. The blond look like he had quite literally just climbed out of bed. His hair was even more wild than usual, his clothes were wrinkled and the yawn he had released at the fallen angel's words managed to fill the entire room with its sound.

"If someone had actually told me where to go, I would've gotten here quicker." Naruto said while aiming a pointed look at Michael. The angel looked like Naruto's complete opposite as his immaculate form sat behind Rias' personal desk.

"You would've learned that we were having the meeting in the devil's club room if you hadn't slammed the door in the face of one of my angels. Now, please take a seat." The angel stated calmly while gesturing towards the couch. Naruto waved away the man's words before trudging his way over to the couch. He flopped onto the piece of furniture, earning him a chuckle from Sirzechs who was also sat on the couch.

"Now, I have called this meeting because there have been several developments that concern me, especially with the infancy of our treaty." The angel spoke, bringing all of their attentions on to him. Even Naruto sat up at the sound of his voice. He had a few ideas of just what exactly could have been bothering the angel.

"Naruto," The focus of attention in the room shifted onto the blond when Michael called out his name. Naruto, his eyes already filled with annoyance and tiredness, returned all of their looks before settling his attention on Michael.

"Is it true that the Infinite Dragon God has i-"

"Ophis." Naruto spoke, interrupted the seraph. By his side, Azazel and Sirzechs had to hold back smirks as Michael sent the teen a perplexed look.

"Excuse me?" Michael questioned. Naruto huffed at his response before finally sitting all the way up in his seat.

"Her name is Ophis. If you're going to talk to her, you should at least use her name. You wouldn't like it if I called you the pretty boy with the white wings, would you?" Michael could only blink at Naruto's words before briefly looking over to his fellow supernatural leaders to see their reaction. When he saw the two men shrug at him, the seraph knew he was on his own as he returned his attention back to Naruto with an almost silent sigh.

"I apologize. By your reaction, is it safe to assume that the rumors that Ophis has had a significant portion of her power stolen are correct?" Naruto nodded in response to Michael's question.

"I assume that she has been staying with you and is well protected." Naruto nodded again. Michael hummed at the blond's answers.

"I trust that she will be safe under your protection. For now, we must focus on finding the culprit behind the robbery. Even a portion of the dragon's power can spell disaster for the world." Azazel and Sirzechs nodded along to the angel's words. They had been sent into a panic when they had been told about the assault on Ophis. They knew that even a portion of the dragon's power wielded correctly could destroy several legions worth of their people.

"I think I know who did it." Naruto once again drew the attention back onto himself as he spoke. The three leaders looked honestly shocked at his words as they stared at him.

"You do?" Naruto nodded in response.

"Yeah. A god named Hades attacked my shop a day ago. I also think he was the culprit behind the thing that happened at the school." Naruto said while directing a look at Sirzechs.

"Hades? The Greek god of underworld?" The devil asked almost frantically.

"I thought he was the god of death but I think we're talking about the same guy." It was Sirzechs turn to flop down in his seat. The man looked distressed as his body seemed to melt further and further down into the couch, drawing looks of concern from the other occupants of the room.

"Is something the matter?" Michael asked. Sirzechs hesitantly looked up at the angel before letting out an irritated huff.

"Yeah, if we're talking about the same Hades then we're going to have a bit of a problem." When the devil received nothing but questioning looks from the others, he decided it would be best if he explained a bit more.

"Hades is the god of the underworld for the Greeks. Even though he is part of the greek pantheon, he has become powerful enough that his influence has leaked outside of the Greeks. Us devils live in the underworld so I have had a bit of interaction with the man and he is a monster," Sirzechs paused as a brief shiver ran up his spine. The devil looked disturbed as he recalled memories of his time with Hades.

"There is a reason why the underworld is commonly called Hades. His power makes him famous outside his own faction. The man stinks of death. His presence brought the underworld to a halt when he let it loose. Serafall managed to freeze a good chunk of the underworld with her Ice magic. Hades froze the entirety of our home with just his raw power."

"Why would this god want anything to do with us? We have done nothing to earn the ire of the Greek pantheon." Michael interrupted the devil with a small frown on his face. The angel would be lying if he said he wasn't at least a little bothered by Sirzechs words of the god's power.

"We earned it just by existing. Hades hates anything that isn't Greek." Naruto chimed in. Sirzechs nodded along to his words.

"During my brief interactions with him, I've assumed the same thing. When he had learned that we were part of the Christian pantheon, he demanded we leave his domain. He said that the underworld was only worthy of the Greeks. It took Serafall, Grayfia and I just to get him to leave."

"Our treaty was probably the last straw for him. He sees us as a threat and plans on using Ophis' power to destroy us." Azazel said. At the fallen angel's words, Michael sighed while slumping down into his seat.

"An attack seems almost inevitable. We must prepare." Michael stated. In the back of his mind, Naruto groaned to himself. By the blond's tone, he knew that this discussion was nowhere close to being complete. He was in for a long morning.

"I should've just stayed in bed."

* * *

The Uzumaki residence wasn't the most pleasant of environments at the moment. The awkwardness, centered in the home's kitchen, radiated through the house, creating a suffocating atmosphere.

"Does anyone want more?" A clone of Naruto asked and got three raised hands in response. The blond shook his head and made a mental reminder to himself, technically his creator, to buy more eggs as he went to the fridge to retrieve some.

After the blond's question, the dining room descended into silence as the three girls sat at the table awaited their food. Ophis sat at the head of table and seemed content with staring off into the distance. Koneko sat to her right and she seemed content with poking at the remnants of sausage and eggs that had been on her plate. Directly across from her sat her sister who seemed to be the main source of the awkwardness as she nervously looked in between the two girls.

"Why … were you so loud?" Ophis was the one to break the silence as she shifted her attention on to Koneko. Kuroka found herself blushing as she realized just what exactly the dragon had been talking about. She had woken up to the sound of her little sister enthusiastically calling out her boyfriend's name.

It hadn't been the least pleasant awakening she had experienced.

"I was having sex." Koneko didn't bother dumbing it down for the dragon as she responded. The Nekoshou glanced up from her plate and saw that Ophis was now staring at her with a curious gleam in her eyes.

"Sex?" The dragon questioned. Her eyes were glued on Koneko who had returned to poking at the crumbs on her plate.

"It's something I do with Naruto. I'm loud because he's making me feel good." Koneko flippantly responded.

"...Can I do it with him?" Kuroka nearly choked on air at Ophis' question. Koneko merely glanced up briefly from her plate to stare at the dragon before lowering her gaze.

"No." Ophis' neutral expression broke as a frown found its way to her features. It was clear that the casual denial of her request had irked the dragon somewhat.

"Why not?"

"Because you can't." Koneko didn't even bother looking up from her plate to respond this time. Kuroka watched as the frown on Ophis' face deepened at her sister's response. She began to subtly scoot her seat away from the table while she prepared to run … just in case.

"Why can I not?" The dragon's agitation was clear as she directed a glare at her devil counterpart. Like before, Koneko didn't look even slightly bothered by the Ophis' anger as she kept her attention down on the table.

"Because only his girlfriend can." Ophis' agitation seemed to shatter at Koneko's words. The anger was replaced with curiosity as she settled back down into her seat. Kuroka watched as the dragon returned to staring off into the distance, this time with a pondering look on her face.

"I have some eggs for everyone!" Naruto's clone made his presence known as he came walking into the kitchen with a large pan in his hand. Koneko finally looked up and flashed Naruto a small smile as he scraped some eggs on her plate. Ophis was unresponsive as Naruto did the same with her while Kuroka offered up the teen a small smile of thanks while keeping her attention on Koneko and Ophis.

"Does anyone want anything else?" Silence was his response, prompting the blond to shrug and return to the kitchen. He had plates to wash.

If the clone knew the conversation he had missed by mere seconds, he would've immediately dispelled to warn his boss. Instead, he remained ignorant, and unknowingly opened the pathway for a whole new wave of headaches to assault his creator.

If only.

* * *

Naruto let loose a loud yawn as he walked down the sidewalk. The gesture brought him several irritated looks from the people around him. The blond didn't seem to care much as he continued making his way down the streets of Kuoh.

It was midday and the shinobi had only just managed to escape from the meeting between the three faction leaders. His head was swimming with the load of plans, logistics and countermeasure that had been discussed during the meeting. He had exactly zero plans on using any of them. It had taken everything in him not to fall asleep during it. He didn't want to deal with an agitated Michael, after all.

" _At least_ its _Sunday. Sundays usually aren't that busy_." Naruto thought to himself. The meeting had made him miss out on the early morning rush for his shop. He was hoping he would be able to make it up by staying open a little late today.

The blond turned the corner onto the street his shop was located. He had expected a few irate customers hungering for their midday snack at his doors. Some of his customers were very routine and if they didn't get their fix, they would get angry.

Naruto found himself looking at something very different. The front of his store was littered. It was littered with graffiti or trash or anything like that. No, instead it was covered in an array of flowers, wreaths, candles and other offerings.

"What the…" Naruto jogged the rest of the way to his shop. As he got close, he had to be careful not to step on any of the multitude of stuff in front of his shoo. When he reached the door, he noticed that the structure was covered in a sea of handwritten notes. He reached out and plucked one of the notes off his door in order to read it.

"Thank you, Candy-Sama. Your treats have kept my children happy and your presence has kept my plants healthy." Naruto read out loud. The teen's face screamed confusion as he dropped the note and reached out to grab another one.

"Candy-Sama, the chirping of the birds has returned to my garden. Thank you."

"You have blessed my taste buds once more. Thank you."

"I can finally take my dog on a walk again. Thank you."

"Your candy helped me get my boyfriend in the mo-" Naruto stopped there once he realized just where the note was heading. He let it fall from his hand as he stared back up at his note covered door.

This day was not going anywhere near how we predicted. The faction meeting along with this sea of messages and offerings were completely unexpected. Any hope for a normal day had been dashed by their presence.

Wordlessly, two clones formed next to Naruto, startling the passing pedestrians. The blond didn't bother to hide their presence as he turned to them with a tired expression on his face.

"Clean this all up and bring it to the backroom." Naruto ordered his clones before pushing his way into the store. The clones shared a look between themselves before getting to work. They had a lot of work to get done.

* * *

"Thank you, Candy-Sama!" Naruto held back a sigh as yet another customer called him by that name. His morning had been spent attempting to correct them, but all of his efforts were met with failure. His customers seemed intent on calling him that and nothing he could say would change their mind.

"Candy-Sama! Candy-Sama!" Naruto was brought out of his inner brooding as the doors to his shop slammed open. In came sprinting two people, one significantly older female looking while the other was a young boy who seemed to be clutching something to his chest. The blond became a lot more alert as the duo ran their way to his counter. He faintly noticed a trail of blood dripping its way after the duo.

"My dog … a car… she…" The young boy was frantic as he spoke. The words tried to leave his mouth but got jumbled up on their way out. The older girl took notice of this and decided to take over.

"His dog got hit by a car outside. It isn't breathing and we need your help, Candy-Sama. Please help him." Naruto glanced down at the boy's arms and noticed that he was indeed holding on to a dog. The creature looked to be in bad condition as its chest rose and fell with a haggard squeak. A solid stream of blood dripped from its mouth while its tongue hung limply out of his mouth.

"I…" Naruto hesitated as he looked at the young boy's face. He was desperate and it was very noticeable. The dog was probably the child's most beloved friend and it was currently dying in his hands. The grief and panic the boy was going through were probably heartbreaking.

"Put her on the counter." As the words left his mouth, the blond knew he would regret it. Yet, his conscience wouldn't allow him to let a boy's dog die just because he didn't want to show off his abilities, especially when half the town already thought he was a god.

The girl lifted the dog from the boy's arms while Naruto cleared it off. Once it was clear, she set the creature down and stepped backward.

With the dog on his counter, Naruto set to work. By this point, the entirety of the shop had focused their attention on the scene. They watched with held breaths as the blond rolled up his sleeves. Some managed to catch a brief glimpse of a sun imprinted on the teen's palm. Any attempt at trying to see the image any further was blocked when Naruto placed the palm of his hand against the dog's chest.

At first, nothing happened. The dog's breath continued to come into it with shaky, haggard breaths while blood still dripped from its mouth. The look on the boy's face fell even more as he began to think his pet was done for. Not even a god was able to save it.

Suddenly, a bright golden light flashed from the dog's chest. The light sent the shop in awe as they stared at the scene. If one looked closely, they would've noticed the golden glow was actually coming from Naruto's palm. The teen's eyes remained close as he kept his hand on the dog.

The melancholy look on the young boy's face began to break apart when he noticed the dog's breathing steadily become better. The rise and fall of its chest began to pick up speed. The wheeze that was once leaving its mouth actually started to sound like breathing again. The thick trail of blood leaving its mouth turned into a faint line before disappearing altogether. After a full minute of silence and anticipation, Naruto opened his eyes while taking his hands away from the dog. To the crowd's amazement, the creature proceeded to crawl up to its feet before letting out a hearty bark that filled the store with its sound.

"Your do-" Naruto found himself interrupted as his shop erupted into loud cheers. The blond didn't have a chance to say anything else as waves of praise and congratulations washed over him. He could only watch as the young boy tearfully picked the dog off the counter. The dog responded well to its owner presence as it began to lick at its face, wiping away some of the boy's tears while unknowingly causing more.

"Thank you, Candy-Sama. You have blessed us once more. Thank you so much." The girl said with a bow. Her own eyes were filled with tears as she turned to hug her brother along with his dog. Naruto watched the scene with no small amount of happiness in his eyes as the store around him continued to sing his praises.

" **Being a god doesn't seem so terrible now, right**?" Kurama's voice brought the blond's attention away from the store of cheering people.

" _I don't think I would do a good job at being a god_." Naruto found himself even as he flashed a nervous smile at the row of people who had just bowed at him. He could hear Kurama's chuckle shortly after his statement, making it very clear that the tailed beast didn't take the boy very seriously.

"After your display today, I don't think you'll have much of a choice. Be ready, brat. Things are only going to get more interesting from now on." No matter how much he wanted to refute his partner's words, Naruto knew Kurama was right. The crowd of cheering people made that very clear to him.

In everyone else's eyes, he was a god, whether he liked it or not.

* * *

Her uncle's domain was one of the few among the Greek gods that she actually enjoyed visiting. She could feel the breath of the wild running through it with every step she took. Creatures, some that hadn't nor would ever be discovered by humanity, swam wild in their habitats. It warmed her heart as the goddess of wild animals to see that not every creature had to face subjugation and capture.

Artemis gave a slight tilt of her head at a group of passing merpeople. The various pieces of golden armor covering their body remained untouched by the effects of rust. Instead, it shined underneath the soft shine of bottled bioluminescent plankton that helped light the hallway.

"Master Poseidon is awaiting your presence." As Artemis approached the massive doors of Poseidon's throne room, one of its guard spoke out.

"Thank you, Triton." Artemis nodded at the merman. Out of all the people she had observed, Triton was the most outstanding of the bunch. His upper half was that of a human. His barrel-chested figure was unclothed. His lower half took the form of a fish tail. A large golden trident sat in the man's hand while a dark pink conch shell sat on his back. The man offered his own nod to the goddess before returning to standing at attention.

Artemis gave the merman one last glance over before turning her attention towards the grandiose doors in front of her. The goddess couldn't help but roll her eyes at the close-up sight of the gold-trimmed wood. If there was one thing she disliked about this particular uncle, it was his love for the lavish and his perverted nature. Two things she found very hard to overcome.

" _Better than the alternative_." The goddess thought to herself as the doors opened before her. She didn't bother waiting as she walked immediately through the small gap. Triton seemed aware of the goddess' hurry as he motioned for the doors to close. They shut a moment afterward, trapping the goddess inside.

"Artemis!" A booming voice reached the goddess' ears the moment the doors shut behind her. The voice managed to shake the crystal chandeliers that hung from the roof. It reverberated off the aquamarine walls that held dozens of pictures and weapons. Artemis even managed to feel it through the glass floors that extended through the entirety of the room.

"Why must you be so loud, uncle?" Artemis sighed out as she approached the throne. The lavish golden chair sat in the middle of the room was occupied by a man. This man was massive, easily towering over the goddess multiple times over. Large red robes provided him with some modest. A massive trident, similar to Triton's but much larger in size, leaned against his throne. The god's cerulean eyes stared down at Artemis while a large grin sat on his face.

"For the same reason you deem it wise to walk around in such a miniature form." Poseidon shot back while still maintaining his grin.

"My ego isn't as massive as yours so I do not require a physical form to match it." Poseidon erupted into laughter at the goddess' insult. His laughter managed to shake the room once more, causing Artemis to roll her eyes. Instead of continuing, she remained silent and waited for the man's laughter to die away. She knew that if she didn't have her uncle's full attention, nothing she said would be picked up by the man.

"I see that you still have that bite to your words. I love it."

"I've come with news concerning the new nature god." That manages to stop the god's laughter right in its track. His smile disappeared from his face as he leaned forward on his chair.

"Please continue." Inwardly, Artemis smiled. This was why she found her uncle so easy to deal with. Despite his oddities and annoyances, he knew when it was an appropriate time to act like a god. That same interaction played out with her father would've resulted in an argument that would've ultimately ended with her leaving his temple in frustration.

"He performed a miracle today. Restored the life source of a small animal." Artemis explained. Poseidon raised an eyebrow at her words before leaning back into his throne with a pensive expression on his face.

"Are you sure that he wasn't tapping into his domain? Nature gods are usually associated with regenerative abilities and properties." Artemis shook her head at the god's words.

"I've sensed nothing of the sort from him. Actually, I've only seen the opposite. I can sense death on him," Artemis paused here. A frown marred her features as she glanced down at the ground.

"No, not on him. I can sense it in him. It's like he's been touched by it. It's a part of him. That's the only way I can explain him being able to block Pluto's scythe as easily as he did. Even my brother has been harmed by that weapon. It took him weeks to recover." She remembered that year. Hades had ordered the death of Apollo's son, Asklepios, because the boy had been raising the dead using the blessing his father had bestowed upon him. When Apollo went to confront the god of the underworld, Hades hadn't even bothered to directly confront the heartbroken father. Instead, he sent Pluto. The two fought and while Apollo had the upper hand in terms of speed, Pluto was a master at what he did. He managed to land a hit with his scythe on the god's midsection. Apollo had been immediately rendered useless. It didn't take much effort for a squad of grim reaper to escort him out of Hades, leaving him with a ruined heart, an injured body and a bruised ego.

"In him, eh? That would mean some of his powers are centered around death." Poseidon paused here. A small grin began to stretch across his face. "Candy, nature, and death. What an odd combination." Poseidon let out a hum at this. Despite its oddities, the god was pleased. Because no matter how odd the domains, the more the blond had, the more powerful he most likely was.

"He's hiding more." Artemis' voice brought the god out of his thoughts. "I can sense it. Every time he taps into nature, I can feel it. Soon, he'll awaken Gaea. She won't be able to resist the pull of such power for much longer."

"Gaea is not a problem. She can and will be restrained if she decides to wake from her nap." Poseidon responded flippantly. "Your part has been completed. You've gathered enough evidence to prove the boy's worth."

"What now?" Artemis asked her uncle. Poseidon let loose a small chuckle before he rose up to his feet. Now with him standing, Artemis looked like an ant to a human. The giant reached for his trident and grabbed the mighty weapon in his hand while looking down at the goddess with a wide grin on his face.

"Now, we go show him our worth!"

* * *

Naruto let out a sigh of relief as he cracked open the last can of orange soda in the fridge. The blond didn't seem to care about being quiet, despite the late hours of the day, as he greedily consumed the can's content.

After the erratic day that he had, he had been ecstatic to return to a not burned down home. It had only hit him halfway through the day that he had left his home in the care of three girls, two who were considered estranged sisters only days before while the other was a dragon god who wished to kill him. He had briefly gone into a mild fit of panic fit of panic but calmed when he realized the clone he had left with the trio hadn't dispelled himself. That meant that the house had at least been intact.

When he got home, he was surprised to find that absolutely nothing in the home was broken. Koneko and Kuroka were in the living room and happily greeted him. From his clone, he learned that Ophis had retreated to her room earlier in the day and hadn't returned. He had debated peeking inside of her room to check on her but decided against it. Instead, he used some of his sensing abilities to merely confirm her presence in the home. With that confirmed, the blond had been free to spend the rest of his day in relaxation with the Nekoshou duo. He had ended it by returning to bed with Koneko and promptly falling to sleep with the girl in his arms.

But now, thirst called him into action. As he consumed the last drops of orange soda from the can, the blond let loose a loud burp. The burp resonated off the walls of the kitchen, causing the blond to chuckle silently to himself. He moved to throw away the can but stopped when he noticed that he was no longer alone.

"H-Hey Ophis!" Naruto managed to play off his slight shock at her sudden appearance with a smile. However, in the back of his mind, he was wondering to himself just how long the dragon had been standing there. Also … did she hear him burp?

"...Hello." Ophis responded in her usual quiet voice. She said nothing more afterward, plunging the small room into silence. Naruto felt himself grow awkward underneath the dragon's stare. In combination with the silence, the blond found himself wishing, almost begging for something to fill the void. When the void remained unfilled for close to a full minute, the blond decided to take matters into his own hands.

"So, how was you-"

"Can I be your girlfriend?"

"...What?" Naruto certainly was not expecting that. Out of all the things the dragon could've said, asking him to be his girlfriend was nowhere near the top of the list.

"...Can I be your girlfriend?" Ophis repeated the question once again, confirming that the shinobi hadn't misheard her. As panic began to fill him, he gave a quick shake of his head to clear his thoughts. This was not the time to panic. Panicking would allow bury him in a hole he wouldn't escape from unscathed.

"No … you can't. I'm sorry." The blond tried to be as gentle as possible in his response. He had no idea how the idea found its way into the dragon's mind but he knew that not handling the situation delicately would end badly for him.

"...Why not?" The dragon responded with a frown. Once again, she was being denied something she wanted by Naruto. It was starting to become infuriating to her.

"Well," The blond hesitated as he racked his brain for a good answer. "I already have one."

"...Koneko." Naruto nodded. Ophis' frown deepened at this as she looked down at the ground. Silence overcame the room once more for several seconds before the dragon brought her head back up.

"...More than one?" Even if it wasn't framed as a full question, Naruto got the message. The shock that he was feeling was well concealed as he continued to hold a straight face.

"I can't."

"...Why?" Naruto inwardly screeched. This was not the way he wanted to end his day. He knew he should've checked up on the dragon earlier. This conversation would have been dealt with before he went to bed. Instead, he was standing in the middle of his kitchen in a pair of shorts while attempting to explain to an immortal dragon why she couldn't be his girlfriend.

"Look, why are you even asking this?" The blond attempted to divert the topic, figuring it was his best chance at getting out the conversation.

"...I want to have sex with you." Naruto's calm facade broke as he choked on the girl's words. Once again, he found himself almost speechless.

"Lets … lets just talk about this later." The blond responded in a tired voice. He met Ophis' eyes and froze up when he noticed an unprecedented amount of sadness in her eyes.

"...I want to feel good." Naruto felt his heart melt at the Ophis' words. The sadness in her voice tore at his emotions and made him hesitate once more. Eventually, the more rational part of him won out as he released an almost silent sigh.

"I promise we'll talk later." Naruto assured the dragon. When he noticed the frown still present on her face, he reached out and laid a comforting hand on her head.

"I don't break my promises, Ophis." The shinobi made sure to look the dragon directly in the eyes as he spoke. The two beings held eye contact for several long moments without a word being exchanged. A single light hanging from the kitchen ceiling illuminated their figures as they stared at one another.

"...Okay." Ophis mumbled out as the frown slowly faded from her lips. She remained under the blond's touch for several more seconds before walking out of the kitchen. Naruto watched her leave the room and, several seconds later, listened as her door closed behind her.

"...Where did that even come from?" Naruto shook his head clear of his thoughts before beginning to trudge his way back to his room. There was no point in dedicating any more mental effort tonight to what had just happened. His tired brain wasn't ready to fully process it.

Why couldn't any night for him just end normally?

* * *

 **AN: Another quick chapter, yet this one is much longer! I hope you all enjoyed it. Like I said at the beginning of the chapter, the discord chat is made. If you want to come and talk about stuff, fanfiction or otherwise, come join! There's actually people in it already so you don't have to worry about attempting to maintain an awkward conversation with just me!**

 **Have a wonderful rest of the day! Review with any questions, concerns, comments, suggestions, recipes, etc! Peace!**


	32. Chapter 32

"Why are you still here? Don't you have a whole group of gods to rule over?"

"Meh, Thor, Tyr and Freya can handle it. I'm on a vacation." Odin flippantly commented before reaching over the counter in an attempt to snatch one of the freshly made sugary creations that had been tempting his appetite. His attempt ended in pain when Naruto smacked his hand away with a wooden ladle, causing the god to let out a howl of pain as he retracted his hand.

"Can't you move your vacation somewhere else? My shop isn't really all that scenic."

"I would say otherwise. Look at all the lovely people who have came here to see the 'Candy-Sama'." The man's voice was teasing as he turned his body to gesture at the crowd of people behind him.

And, he was right. The store was almost bursting with people. Every single table in the building was filled. Every single seat Naruto had was in use. There were even people just standing around, waiting for a chance to purchase and taste one of his treats.

Naruto knew that the bulk of his customers wasn't what the god was focusing on. Odin was all but leering at the females inside the shop. His eyes bounced from table to table, drinking in every inch of cleavage and leg he could find. At one point he began drooling, which was the point that Naruto decided to cut the god's pervertedness short by slapping him in the back of his head.

"What was that for?" Odin sent Naruto an accusatory glare while holding the back of his now throbbing blond decided to rightfully ignore his outburst in favor of fulfilling yet another order. He passed off the tray of cupcakes to his clones and watched as it dashed across the store with the treats in hand.

"You know … cute girls aren't the only reason why I stay around here?"

"Oh really? What else is keeping you here?" Outwardly, the blond didn't even pause in his movements as he began to prepare a tray of crescent rolls. Inwardly, he was preparing himself to deny any attempt at getting him join, team up or partner with Odin and his group of gods.

"I'm working out a sort of agreement with Christian bunch. Soon the Norses will be best of buds with them." This statement caused Naruto to pause briefly in his actions. He glanced up from his rolls and saw that Odin was looking back at him, the man looking as serious as he had ever looked. The look lasted only for a moment before Naruto returned his focus back to his rolls.

"That's good to he-"

"Though, if you and me want to get a side agreement going…" Odin trailed off, hoping that the blond would pick up on what he was saying.

"No." Without even glancing up, Odin got shut down by the blond. The god attempted a pout but the attempt at tugging at the blond's heartstrings ended miserably. A large part of his failure came from the fact that his current form was one of an elderly, perverted man. They didn't make for the cutest of people.

"You're so mean." Odin pouted. Naruto rolled his eyes at the god's behavior before pointing a finger toward his door.

"Get out if you think I'm so mean."

"You wouldn't kick little old me out, would you?" Without any warning, two clones appeared on either side of the stool that Odin was sat on. Before the god could even make a peep, the clones reached over and grabbed a hold of his arms. The man seemed to be powerless as the identical duo lifted him from his chair and began to drag him toward the door.

"Hey! What are you doing? Let go of me!" Odin yelled while attempting to wrench his arms out of the clones' grip. The god was surprised to find that no matter how much of his strength he attempted to exert the clones would not relent. He truly was powerless as the clones kicked the doors open, lifted him up into the air before pushing him out toward the street. He landed ass first on the concrete and watched as the doors to Naruto's shop closed behind him. He shot back up to his feet and ran back up to the door, intent on gaining entry once more. Instead of the door slamming open like he had expected, the god found himself back on his ass once he rebounded off the still closed doors. It was like he had run into a steel wall.

"Those seals were some of my best ideas." The blond thought to himself as his eyes traced the glowing symbols etched into the door frame. They were currently serving as an extra line of defense against pesky supernatural beings like Odin. They would keep the god out for now … at least until one of his customers wanted to leave the shop.

"I'll deal with that when it comes."

* * *

It was raining. To most people, the rain would dissuade them from leaving the house. After all, what was better than sleeping late on a rainy morning?

Naruto wasn't in that type of mood today. The fact that the boy was sat in the middle of a forest clearing, miles away from his shop and Kuoh made that very clear. The soft drizzle that fell from the sky and rebounded through the forest did little to halt the blond's concentration as he sat in his meditative pose.

"Child…" A single eye slowly creaked open as a raspy voice echoed through the clearing. Naruto's open eye shifted back and forth in search for a source the voice. When he found no such thing, he inwardly sighed to himself before closing his eye.

" _Why today? It was such a nice morning too…_ " Naruto thought to himself while attempting to return to his meditation. There was no doubt in his mind that the voice belonged to some god who he had either somehow managed to anger or gain their interest. The experiences he had in the past several months dictated that he always be aware of this possibility.

After a full five minutes of silence, Naruto was beginning to think that maybe he actually had been imagining things. He senses slowly began to return to nature as his connection with it was reestablished. A deep and steady breath left his lungs as a rush of nature chakra rushed into his body. The hair on his body stood up on its end at the sudden surge of energy before his body started the process of purification. In battle, he would usually expedite the process out of necessity. Now though, when he was alone and away from any pressing matters, he was happy to take his time.

"Child…."

"I am not your child. Stopping calling me that." Naruto grumbled in return as he allowed both of his eyes to open. His bar-shaped pupils gave away that he was in his sage mode as he attempted to spread his senses far enough to glean just who he was talking to and where exactly they were. Surprisingly, he wasn't able to even catch a whiff of this person's presence. Even when the voice gave off a deceptively feminine giggle, he couldn't locate the person.

"It is true," Naruto tensed up at the sound of the voice. It was much closer this time. It was almost as if the person was speaking right over his shoulder, yet he couldn't sense a single thing from then.

"You are not my child yet your connection with me is stronger than any of my children. You even visit more often." The woman, at least Naruto was assuming she was a woman, finished off with a chuckle which flowed into wistful sigh. To the blond, her tone reminded him of a mother whose children didn't visit her enough.

"Who are you?" Naruto's question was answered by another round of laughter from the woman, causing the blond to sigh. The giggling wasn't getting him very far in terms of answers.

"You know me more than anyone, child. Not even from my own womb yet you're so close. Its _invigorating_." The blond almost leapt off the ground when the world around him seemed to shake in tandem with the woman's last word. At this point, he was on high alert as he strained every single one of his senses. If he could just get a sense of where she was…

"Beneath you." Naruto's head shot down when he heard the voice come from below him. This time, his feet actually did leave the ground when he saw that the voice was coming from directly under him. A noticeably female face looked to have somehow melded into the very earth itself and was now speaking with him.

"What the hell?" Naruto couldn't help but say out loud as he landed several feet away. His comment earned another round of laughter from the woman. Just like when she spoke, her laugh seemed to have a physical effect on the earth as the blond felt the ground shift along with her.

"Don't be so frightened. You gave me this beauty." Naruto watched in mixture of shock, interest, and disgust as the face began to push against the earth. The ground seemed to become rubber as it stretched to accommodate the rising face. When the face rose almost five feet into the air, the stretched earth beneath it folded in on itself. From the crumpled pile, a body began to take shape. To Naruto, the process encapsulated his whole attention. Dirt, grass, and rock morphed into tanned flesh. Jagged edges turned into feminine curves. Modesty didn't seem to be very important to the creature as no clothes formed. Eventually, the transformation process seemed to finish, leaving Naruto with a very _interesting_ sight.

The woman's skin was extremely tan, nearly looking like the color of bronze. For a female, she stood a relatively tall height of around 6 feet. Her hair was an interesting shade of green that reminded Naruto of his fellow jinchuuriki, Fu. Though, this woman's hair was in the form of long tresses that fell nearly to her waist. Her shapely body was completely uncovered, leaving her sizable breast and vagina out for view. Naruto had absolutely no intention of soaking in the view as he kept his eyes locked on the woman's smirking, heart-shaped face. He wasn't going to allow a voluptuous body get him killed.

"My skin used to by dry and cracked. My body felt sore and full of aches. My hips … wide and fat." The woman paused here to delicately place one of her hands against on her hip. Her fingers slid against its curve with an almost purposeful touch. They didn't remain idle for long at all as they ascended their way up her body. Her actions were in once more slow as her hand glided over the curves of her body. The woman even made sure to gleam over her breasts before ending the movement with a large smile.

"Now, I feel renewed. Your presence has given birth to a new me. Thank you." She gave a small bow of her head to finish her statement. Naruto didn't seem to be the least bit pleased by her actions as a frown remained glued onto his lips.

"You still haven't told me who you are." The blond's reply came out clipped. He felt uneasy in the woman's presence and the longer she talked, the worst he felt. Unlike before when her presence had nonexistent, now he felt her all around him. Despite her being directly in front of him, she felt as if she was at his right, his left, above, below and behind him. It was an unnerving feeling and it took everything within him not to lash out at it.

"My womb has birthed everything around you. I am the oldest and most beloved out of all. My influence stretches beyond just the silly boundaries called pantheons that my children have made. I am all their mothers and they are all my children. I've been called Jord, Nokomis, Pachamama, Phra Mae, Dewi Sri, Gaea and many more. I am the mother goddess. I am mother nature." The woman presented herself with a kindly smile. Her smile did very little to calm the blond down. At the revelation of her title, Naruto felt his stomach drop out from under him. If what the woman said was true, he was talking to nature itself. This was not good.

"Well … Nature-san-"

"I would prefer if you call me Kaa-san. With how connected you've been to me, I would feel shame if you called me anything else." The woman said with a disarming smile. As a chill traveled up his spine, Naruto had a feeling that calling the woman anything other than what she requested would not be a good idea. Naturally, he decided to follow that feeling.

"Kaa-san," If possible, the woman's smile seemed to grow twice in size at his words. Despite the oddity of calling a woman other than his actual mother 'Kaa-san', the boy was thankful that he didn't manage to anger her …. yet.

"Thank you for your visit. I appreciate you letting me borrow your energy." The blond decided to start off with a show of thanks. If this woman had even a fraction of the power he thought she had, he needed to be on her good side.

The blond figured that he was doing a pretty good job of it when the woman let loose a sweet sounding laugh. He found himself nervously returning the laugh with a smile of his own as the primordial being approached him. He took notice that with each step she took, her feet would rise and fall out of the ground almost as if she was walking in a thin pool of water.

"You thank me, child, when I'm the one who should be thanking you. That energy you call natural was disgusting." The woman's expression turned at this. Naruto felt a slight shift in the wind around him as her smile twisted into a frown.

"Millenniums of abuse made it that way. The children that I birthed, the ones who swore to keep their mother's heart sacred above all else, they abandoned me. Some even tried to steal from me. I allowed it … Oh, what a foolish old woman I am." The woman's lament struck a chord within the blond's heart. It also made him want to run away as far as possible from the woman considering her words reminded him very strongly of Kaguya. He was just happy that she seemed much kinder and less demented than her alien chakra goddess counterpart.

"You haven't forgotten me though." The woman's sad expression turned suddenly as she directed her full attention at Naruto. A shiver traveled down his spine at her expression. He didn't need any sort of empathetic ability to feel the amount of affection and adoration the goddess was sending him.

"From the moment you stepped foot here, you've been with me. You've bathed in my presence every day. You purified me. You touched me in a way that my husband wasn't even able to." Naruto's natural instinct to run grew louder in his head as the woman came closer to him. When she reached out to touch his face, he had to use every bit of willpower he had not to flinch. Even when she began to run her hand up and down his cheek, the blond stood strong, even leaning into the touch at one point to appease the woman.

" **What have you gotten yourself into**?" Kurama's voice echoed through the blond's head as the woman began to lean her head closer to Naruto's. The blond didn't even bother to reply. He was too panicked to do it anyway. As the woman's lips grew closer and closer to his, the blond mentally weighed his options.

He could either let the woman kiss him, making him feeling guilty and forcing him to somehow explain this situation to his girlfriend, or he could move the woman away, possibly incurring her wrath and most likely guaranteeing his death.

In the end, Naruto decided to stay in the middle ground. At the last possible moment, he moved his head slightly to the side, placing his cheek in the path of her lips. When her lips connected with his cheek, he had expected some type of violent retaliation. He hadn't expected for a sudden surge of nature energy to come rushing through him. There was no need to purify this energy. Instead of the usual taint he dealt with, the blond found that this natural energy was completely free of it. His body felt powered and rejuvenated with the energy running through it. He felt as if he could sprint the entirety of the city within a matter of moments. It felt amazing.

Just as quickly as the feeling came, it disappeared. An amused chuckle brought Naruto out of his miniature trance. The goddess in front of him was the origin of the sound. While he was slightly confused on what had just occurred, he was glad to see that Gaea didn't seem put off by his attempt to dodge her kiss.

"I respect your loyalty, _Naruto_ ," The woman cooed out his name. He couldn't help but squirm beneath her gaze as it raked up and down his body.

"That feeling you experienced, that's how you make me feel each and every day. I know that I cannot have you at this moment so I request that you only continue to make me feel this way." Naruto took notice of her usage of 'this moment'. Due to those words, he had no doubt in his mind that his interaction with the goddess wouldn't be limited to this one single meeting. That thought wasn't the most pleasant of thoughts but he pushed it to the side. For now, he was just grateful he was alive.

"I can do that." Naruto's mumbled response earned him another smile from the woman. She nodded at his words before turning her back on him and walking towards the treeline. Naruto watched her make her way all the to the clearing's edge before stopping and turning her head towards him.

"My great grandson … the one who holds the most domain of my underbelly. He approaches with an army. I give you permission to remind him of his place." Gaea flashed him one last dazzling smile before turning her head forward. Naruto watched as she took a step into the treeline. Almost instantly, the presence that had been so overwhelming to him faded away into nothing. As she drew further and further into the forest, it almost felt as if she was never there in the first place. It was only the tingling of his body caused by her kiss that Naruto managed to convince himself that he hadn't just had a very realistic illusion.

" **You just earned yourself a new ally,** brat." Kurama spoke as Gaea disappeared amongst the trees. Naruto remained silent for a few moments before a deep groan left his lips.

" _An ally or a new hurdle?_ " The blond thought in response to his partner's words. After his interactions with the goddess, he was sure that he could label a woman an ally. He just wasn't too sure if her label for him was just an ally or something much more.

" **You can't do much better than mother earth, boy. As long as you continue using your sage mode, you've got an ally. I say embrace it and deal with it**." Naruto rolled his eyes at the fox's words but said nothing else in response. He knew that the beast was right. He wasn't going to stop purifying the natural energy and using sage mode anytime soon. He was stuck with this now.

"If she was telling the truth then Hades is about to show up. I should warn the other factions." Another sigh rolled out of the blond's mouth at this thought.

So early in the morning and his day was already looking to be a complete drag.

* * *

"I … don't understand." The clone wanted to rip his hair out. He would've done it to if he knew if it would result in him dispelling or not. He may have been a clone but he had morals. He wouldn't escape to the sweet bliss of death just so another clone would have to suffer in his place.

"Look, Ophis," The Naruto clone paused to make sure that the dragon was listening. When she released a subtle nod, he decided to press further.

"Sex isn't … it isn't something that just feels good. It's more than that. Its … special." The clone tried to explain it in the clearest way he could. The subject matter was something he surely didn't want to discuss with the young girl.

"...How is it special?" The clone held in a groan at her question. Questions were a good thing. Questions could lead to progress.

"It's special because you're supposed to do it with people you care about. It's like … the topping on the cake. It sort of sweetens and seals the deal." The clone wanted to pat himself on the back for that one. Managing to connect sex to cake should make it easy for the dragon to understand.

"...Care." Ophis looked down as she mumbled the word. Naruto watched as she seemed to ponder the thought for almost a full minute before looking back up at him with her wide gray eyes.

"Do … you not care about me?" The girl's wide eyes, diminutive voice and the wording of her sentence almost tore the clone's heart out of his chest. Inwardly, he cursed his creator to hell for leaving him here to deal with the dragon. Anything could've been better than somehow being guilt-tripped by a dragon god that was infinitely older than himself.

"It's not like that! I do care about you. That's why I'm taking care of you." Once more, the clone tried to explain his logic to the dragon. If only he knew how pointless of an endeavor it truly was.

"If you care … why can't we have sex?" The words sounded so wrong coming out of her mouth, attached to those big, wide eyes. The situation was beginning to eat away at him the longer he looked at the dragon.

"Because … we can't." Any hopes of making Ophis understand basic logic was beginning to slip away inside him. He only wanted the conversation to end at this point.

"...Why not?" Unluckily for him, Ophis seemed to have other plans.

"Just because, Ophis."

"...That isn't an answer." And just like that, all hopes of getting out of this situation disappeared from the clone's mind. He wished he could've been anywhere other than here. Even when the memory of one of his fellow clones being ripped in half by a scythe reached his mind, he would've much rather been out on the battlefield than trying to explain stuff to Ophis.

Getting cut by reapers was probably less painful.

* * *

"This … has not happened as expected." Hades was a knowledgeable man. He was by far no genius but his domain granted him a grand knowledge on various things. The old saying of 'Dead men tell no tales' was only true if you weren't the god of the dead. When he demanded it, the dead men sanged for him.

But, even the knowledge of the dead couldn't have prepared him for this. He had summoned an army of Grim Reaper to lead his attack on Kuoh, the resting place of the impudent infant god. It was supposed to be a surprise attack which would result in the deaths of hundreds of people, furthering his domain. When he had forced opened the portals to the underworld and the living world, he had expected no enemy presence. What he got in return was the exact opposite.

Angels, fallen angels, and devils, a squadron full of them each, greeted his troops. They were waiting for them and it showed. Within seconds of sighting them, the supernatural creatures charged at their deaths causing counterparts.

Despite the lack of an element of surprise, his troops managed to fare well. Their scythes made quick work of those with lesser ability. The quicker ones learned from their comrades' deaths and fought the reapers from a distance, drawing out the battle to its current stage.

"The Christians presence bothers me, though." Hades frowned to himself as he sat upon his throne in his stretch of the underworld. Lying at his feet was a pool of liquid that was reflecting the battle taking place at Kuoh.

"With the birds and the tainted at the city, their leaders can't be too far behind. I can handle one of them alone, maybe two. But all three … if they revealed their real power, even I am not confident in my capability to defeat them." The god frowned at this. He hated the feeling of being unsure, especially in terms of his own power. Ever since he had blown past Zeus in terms of power, he had left insecurity in the past.

"That child has yet to reveal himself, too." At the moment, things weren't looking good for his assault. He hadn't ordered this assault on Kuoh to lose. And, with his troops down on the battlefield, he wouldn't allow himself to lose.

"I was hoping to save these for Sirzechs and his little corner of my underworld. But, I feel this is much more important." A soft sigh left the man's mouth. Despite his body consisting only of bones, the sound managed to echo through his personal chambers. With a lazy wave of his hand that sent the sleeve of his dark cloak floating in the air, the god summoned a grim reaper to his side.

"Release those beasts we tortured out of that human onto the city. Make sure that they are released overtop of the city, preferably directly over that stupid candy shop. I want it destroyed." The grim reaper nodded at his master's command before faded from existence. With his minion gone, Hades refocused his attention on the pool of liquid.

"Come out and play, child. I wish to reap you if your soul and powers."

* * *

" **You're bored.** "

" _Don't say that! You'll jinx me_."

" **Not trying to jinx you. I'm just pointing out fact**." Naruto rolled his eyes while ducking underneath a lopsided swing from a grim reaper. Without any remorse, he sent one of his truth-seeking orbs rocketing into the creatures unprotected body. Within moments of impact, the reaper had disintegrated into nothing while Naruto moved on to his next victim.

With their scythes, the reaper was definitely dangerous enemies. He had watched dozens of devils, angels, and fallen angels fall instantly from a single knick of the weapon. They were floating, menacing shades of death.

But they were slow. Very slow. They were some the slowest enemies he had faced since arriving in this universe. And their slowness made them easy targets.

" _I don't care if you're not trying to or not! Every single time I start to feel comfortable and think things are going my way, something huge comes out of nowhere and squashes my hopes. I'm not letting it happen, Kurama!_ " Naruto mentally shouted to his partner as he guided his nine orbs around him. His name seemed to take literal form as he cut a hot path through the army of grim reapers. The creatures stood not a single chance as before they could even think to move to counter the blond, their existence would be wiped away by the truth-seeking orbs. His assault earned him the attention of ally and enemy alike, his golden cloak and the path of destruction surrounding him made spotting him rather easy.

" **You're such a brat. You worry too mu** -" Before Kurama could finish his sentence, a ripple of air struck his container, knocking him off path. With a quick burst of chakra, he was back on path and searching for the disturbance. What he found, he definitely did not like.

High above the city, a portal had come to existence. And currently crawling its way out of the portal was a hideous looking creature. Its features seemed to morph and shift with each passing moment as it stuck its body further and further out of the portal.

"It's the jabberwocky!" Naruto heard the shout come from behind him but paid it no mind. His attention was focused on the creature as it fell from the portal with a deafening crack before falling down onto the city. The city shook violently as the hundred meter long body impacted with the earth.

" _I told you, Kurama! I told you!_ "

" **Shut your mouth and do something about it!** " Naruto was about to do just that but was forced to dodge yet another grim reaper attempting to take his head off. A quick glance around him showed that he had been surrounded by grim reaper in the short time he was observing the monsters.

" _I have other things to deal with. It's time for you to get off your lazy ass and do something_!" Naruto mentally shouted to his partner as he began to circle the orbs around his body.

" **You want me to do something? Fine, brat**." That was the last mental thought Naruto received from the thought before their mental link went silent. With his partner out of his mind, the blond turned his attention outward to the group of grim reapers around him.

"You all shouldn't have come here because I'm about to kick your ass!"

* * *

A deep rumble travelled through the city as the jabberwocky walked. Its massive form crushed the line of buildings beneath it yet it did not care. For it had been created for one purpose. The purpose of destruction.

The creature opened its mouth wide to let loose it's terrifying screech but stopped when he felt a sudden rush of air hit its head. It turned towards the direction of the wind, only to receive a wrecking ball sized bullet of air to slam into its jaw, sending it rocketing off its dozen of feet.

" **Sniped ya**!" A voice shouted from a distance!

Before the creature could find earth again, it was suddenly snatched from the air and lifted upward. Disoriented from the hit and the sudden change of motion, it took the jabberwocky several seconds to right itself to see what was currently carrying it skyward. Its eyes met with a massive blue, armored beetle that was sending what resembled a smirk down at it.

" **Glad you joined us on our flight**!" Chomei amusingly shouted at its passenger. The jabberwocky didn't seem as amused by its flight as it began to screech and shake in the beetle's grip.

" **You want to get off so soon? Fine! Have a nice swim**!" That was the last thing the creature heard from Chomei before it found itself suddenly released from the beetle's hold. It managed to hold its screech on the entire flight downward before eventually being silenced when it slammed into the lake.

Underneath the lake and safe from the beetle, the jabberwocky attempted to regain some sense of the balance he had entered the fight with. Unfortunately for it, it wouldn't have much time to do that. Just as it began to recover from its drop, it felt two appendages wrap tightly around its massive neck. It attempted to shriek once more but found its voice muffled by the water.

" **You're not allowed in my hiding spot**." The jabberwocky could just barely make out a voice from behind it as it tried to shake off its appendage. It only just managed to catch a glimpse of a massive turtle before the tailed beast's third tail smacked into the creature, sending coral sprouting across its body and launching it from out the lake. The jabberwocky's flight was much shorter this time around, managing to last only a few seconds before it crashed into the forested areas surrounding the lake.

It didn't expect this. It had expected an easy fight. It had expected a slaughter. It had expected a complete massacre. It certainly didn't expect to meet creatures that managed to match its size. It definitely didn't expect those creatures to fight with such ferocity. And most of all, it didn't expect one of those creatures to be currently standing over its body with its mouth wide open and a massive black orb sitting inside of it.

The jabberwocky didn't even have time to scream before the bijuudama slammed into his head. The attack instantly disintegrated every piece of flesh it touched. Kurama kept the attack going for a full ten seconds even though he only needed one. When the fox finally closed its mouth, a barren path almost a mile long cut through the forest. The jabberwocky was nowhere in sight.

" **Do something, eh? Beat that, brat**!"

* * *

In the minds of the supernatural creatures watching Naruto, he had certainly beat that. The army of grim reaper that had once been pouring out of the portal and surrounded the blond was no more. Instead, only a small trickle of the creatures would appear out of the still open portal. Though, as soon as they surfaced, they would be picked off by surrounding angels and devils.

"Amazing!"

"Did you see how quick he killed those grim reapers?"

"He didn't even get touched."

"He really may be a god." That last comment was the one that set Naruto off. He turned to correct the devil who uttered the phrase only to stop when an overwhelming presence landed upon his shoulders. Judging by the frozen men and women around him, they too felt the presence.

" **You have a disturbing amount of power for a supposed candy god. Though, the new titles I've seen attached to your wretched name may explain that.** " Naruto quickly located the source of the presence coming from behind it. A soft sigh left the blond's mouth before turning to face the voice.

Hades was how Naruto imagined a stereotypical god of death. The man didn't possess any flesh, consisting of solely of bones. Ripped black robes covered the god's body as he floated in the middle of the air. Clutched in the god's hand was a massive scythe with a midnight black shaft and a gleaming silver blade. All in all, the god gave off a very creepy aura while he stared at Naruto.

"I am not a god. I'm letting you know this right now." He was hoping by some small chance that the god would go away and let him be. But as the god of death opened its jaw to speak, he knew that things weren't going to go the way he wanted.

" **In comparison to me, child, you're right. You're not a god. You're an insect that I will crush like I've done with so many before you**!" A groan left Naruto at Hades' response. Looks like another fight would be inevitable.

"It's always the hard way."

" **Don't worry, child. _Its already over_**." The last sentence echoed from behind Naruto, forcing him to turn around. Hades was now stood behind him with his scythe raised high into the air. Unlike his grim reapers, the god didn't seem to have any problems with speed as he brought the scythe speeding down towards Naruto. The blond ducked low, allowing the blade to pass over top of his head before springing forward, sending his punch crashing into the god's gut. The satisfying sound of fist against bone met his ears before the god was sent rocketing backward through the sky. The god's flight lasted only for a few short meter before he managed to correct himself.

" **You can actually touch me. Maybe you have a little more power than I thought, you infant god**."

"I'm not an in-"

" **Silence and give me your soul**!" The god didn't allow Naruto any time to speak before shooting towards him. The teen was forced to enter a backward flight as Hades started swinging wildly at his body. With each swing, the blade managed to pass only inched away from the blond's body but never touched, a fact that seemed to frustrate the god of death.

" **Die!** " Hades shouted once more before releasing a sickly purple aura from his body in a wide wave. Due to the proximity of the duo and the speed of the attack, Naruto was unable to dodge the attack when it slammed into him. Surprisingly, to both Naruto and Hades, the attack did nothing. So shocked was the god that he actually stopped his attack to stare at the blond.

" **How? I've brought the entirety of Olympus down to their knees with that attack. How are you not affected?** " Hades screamed before letting loose another wave of the attack. Against his better judgement, Naruto decided to allow the attack to him. Like before, the wave of purple energy slammed into him and did absolutely nothing. The blow didn't even do so much as tickle him as he looked at Hades with an increasing amount of amusement building up inside of him.

" **Are you a death god? This shouldn't be possible. Even Osiris was affected by it. What type of god are you?** "

"I told you. I'm not just some god!" Naruto punctuated the last word by punching the god straight in the stomach, folding the god in two. With his back lowered, the blond raised his right leg high above his head before sending it crashing down upon the god's exposed back. The force behind the kick countered whatever force was keeping the god afloat and sent the man careening down towards the ground. The skeleton man slammed into the ground with a loud crash, his body forming a crater on impact.

"Hopefully he got the message." Naruto thought to himself before floating down towards the crater. Hades remained motionless during the descent, something that the blond was happy to see. He rather not have to continue the fight.

" **Who…** " Naruto heard the god rasp out as his feet met the earth. He walked the short distance separating him from the god before standing over his prone form.

" **Who … who are you working with, boy?** "

"What are you talking about? I'm not working with anyone." Naruto said in the most genuine voice he could muster. He honestly was lost on what the god was attempting to convey.

" **No god has the kind of power you have so suddenly!** " Hades suddenly barked out, sending Naruto into a defensive stance. Despite the raised volume of his voice, the god did not move.

" **Who blessed you? Was it Yama? That bitch, Izanami? Who?!** "

"No one did anything to me. That was all me."

" **Lies!** " Hades bellowed out, sending his aura spilling forth once more. Just like before, the wave of purple energy had absolutely no effect on the blond. This act proved infuriating to the god, especially as he watched the ground and grass around him decay from his power.

" **I can sense it in you. Deep inside your core! I can feel death! I will rip it from your stomach and take it for my o** -" Naruto didn't even allow to god to finish his threat. With a tired thought, the blond sent all nine of his orbs slamming into the god's body. A scream ripped out of the God's throat as the orbs pierced his body. When the first crack in his skeleton formed, Hades' fate was sealed. Within seconds of the first crack, the skeleton shattered. The shattered pieces never got to reach the ground before they disintegrated into air, leaving no trace of the god's presence except for his scythe.

" _I wonder if he died or if he's just reforming_." Naruto thought to himself before bending down to pick up the scythe. As soon as his fingers made contact with the shaft of the weapon, he felt an explosion of power centered around his stomach before a chillingly familiar presence appeared before him. With no small amount of nervousness, the blond turned to face the presence.

Inwardly, Naruto had to admit that his world's shinigami was much scarier than anything Hades could produce. The creature's grey skin, snow white hair, sword in mouth and ripped white cloak made for a rather intimidating sight. With the god staring down directly at him, Naruto could do nothing but hope that he wasn't here for him.

Surprisingly, after almost a full minute of eye contact, nothing happened to Naruto. He straightened up to his full height while sending the pale, still image of the shinigami a confused glance. He briefly looked at the scythe still in his hand before looking back at the shinigami.

" _What if…_ " The blond thought to himself before releasing the staff. As soon as his fingers left the scythe, the image of the death god disappeared. The blond managed to catch the scythe before it could hit the ground, summoning the shinigami back into view. At the revelation, Naruto couldn't help but be amazed as he looked in between the weapon and the shinigami.

" _This is so cool_." The teen couldn't help but think to himself as he released and caught the scythe repeatedly, summoning and dismissing the shinigami with a simple touch. A chuckle left his mouth as he began to pass the weapon in between his two hands, forcing the shinigami to flicker in and out of existence at a ridiculous frequency.

" _That's enough fun. I wonder if Kurama took care of the beasts_."

" **Oh, I did. Though, you shouldn't be worrying about what I took care of**."

" _What are you talking about_?"

" **Look above you, brat**." Naruto decided to take his friend's advice and looked towards the sky. His heart almost fell out of his stomach when he took notice of the mass amount of devils, angels, and fallen angels floating above him. All the beings looked shocked as they stared down at him. All it took was a quick glance at the scythe in his hand and the shinigami behind him for the blond to put the pieces together.

"This ... is not what it looks like."

* * *

 **AN: This chapter is coming in at around seven thousands words. Unfortunately, it was a day later than I wanted. I apologize for that.**

 **I hope that you all enjoyed the chapter. A lot has happened during this chapter so if you have any questions concerning what happened in the chapter, feel free to PM me. If you have any other comments, suggestions, questions, insults, etc, you can also PM me or leave a review. Have a wonderful rest of the day! Peace!**

 **P.S: Okay, lets do this again. I'm going to make one thing clear, if you're not interested in what I'm about to present, please do not send me a review telling me how horrible of a human being I am or how I'm going to get sued. I'm not going to particularly listen to it, though I do appreciate the concerns that the latter ones are created from.**

 **The dreaded word. That words that rhymes with matreon, peppercorn, clip-ons, etc. I'm not going to post a link on this chapter. Not going to post it on my profile either. Simply PM me if you're interested in supporting me while I make these fanfics. Thank you and good night!**


	33. Chapter 33

Naruto was not having a good day. In fact, he was having an absolutely horrible day. It was quite possibly one of the worst days he had had since arriving in this dimension

" **Sorry, Naruto. We weren't quick enough to stop the thing from landing on your shop**." Nanabi's voice echoed through his mind as he stared at the crush remains of his shop. Splintered wood, fragmented glass and remnants of sugary treats were among some of the few things that he could spot in the wreckage.

" _It's fine_." The blond sighed out as he turned his back on the wrecked shop. The whole block was in a similar condition. The destruction of the street and the late hour of the day left the teen all alone to bask in the destruction of his livelihood.

" _I can always rebuild. I just had a long day_." He didn't get a reply at this and he was grateful for that. After the day he had just, he didn't really feel like talking. He just wanted to go home and rest.

And it was with these thoughts that Naruto began to walk.

* * *

The first face that greeted Naruto when he opened his door immediately alerted him that a simple night of rest wasn't as close as he wanted it to be. Going off the memories of his clone, he would be having a bit of a discussion with the dragon in front of him.

Naruto initially said nothing as he stepped into the living room of his home. He allowed the door to slowly swing close behind him before focusing his full attention on Ophis. The two entered into a sort of staring contest as neither said nothing while keeping eye contact with one another.

"You look tired." Ophis broke the silence with her statement. Naruto gave a short nod of his head before a yawn forced his mouth open. Ophis watched the male hold the yawn for several seconds before it ended with a low sigh.

"Yeah, I had a long day." In the back of his mind, Naruto was hoping that the dragon would be able to pick up on his hint. He really did not believe he had the energy nor patience to try and explain anything to her right now.

"I … understand." The blond's eyebrow nearly shot up off his face at her words. The excitement that filled him was so much that unconsciously reached down and swept the dragon up in a massive bear hug.

"Thank you so much!" Ophis' whole body tensed up at the sudden physical contact. The girl was beginning to blast the boy with a bit of her power, believing he had decided to turn on her in her weakened state. When she felt no pain or discomfort from the physical contact, she allowed her power to die down within her. Instead, she decided to … indulge herself in the sense of warmth and comfort that she felt from her proximity to her host.

Just as Ophis was beginning to really enjoy the embrace, it ended as Naruto placed her back on the ground. Despite her usual control over her facial features, the dragon's face clearly showed her disappointment at being put down. Unfortunately for her, Naruto had already moved past her and was halfway to his bedroom.

"Goodnight Kuroka. Night Ophis!" The blond shouted before scooping up Koneko in his arms who had been waiting by the doorway to the living room. Within a matter of seconds, the duo had disappeared into their now shared bedroom.

By the time the door closed behind the couple, Ophis had managed to regain her control over her emotions. She turned toward the only remaining person in the room.

Kuroka had been in the living room and had watched the whole interaction between Naruto and Ophis. She had gotten a rather clear view of the look on the dragon's face and could've swore she spotted a blush on her cheeks when Naruto put her down. She, of course, mentioned none of this as Ophis turned to face her.

"Are … they going to have sex?" Kuroka could only blink at the dragon's question. It was in that moment that she could've swore she sensed a tiny hint of jealously in Ophis' voice.

"No … I think they're just going to sleep." The older Nekoshou wisely decided to say no to the question, even if she did believe that the two teens would end up fooling around later during the night. Having an angry god under the same roof as her was not something she wanted to deal with tonight.

Ophis nodded at this before dropping her head. Kuroka watched the girl remain still for several long moments before lifting her head with a soft hum.

"I … will be in my room." That was all Ophis said before walking and disappearing down the home's hallway. Kuroka heard the opening and closing of a door several seconds later, leaving her as the sole person in the room.

"What the hell is wrong with this house?"

* * *

When Naruto woke up the next morning, he had gone through the mental routine of preparing himself for a long day of work. After his daily purification, he would have to spend the day clearing out the wreckage of his shop. He had already decided to use clones for the occasion. He wouldn't make his job harder for the sake of attempting to dissuade people from believing something they already clearly believed in.

But, when the teen arrived at the sight of his ruined shop, he encountered something much different. The scattered pieces of wood that had made up the frame of his shop was gone. The remains of his surplus inventory was nowhere to be seen. Even the powdered sugar that had dusted the ground not even twelve hours before wasn't there.

In their place stood something much more grand. A wooden base almost as tall as him sat where his shop once stood. The wood glowed a beautiful amber within the early morning light Supports shot up out from the base and stood nearly five stories high. The supports leaned heavily against the unfinished stone statue that jutted out of the platform.

"Oh no." The thought flashed through the boy's mind as he began to soak in the details of the statue. It was unfinished, assumingly because of the fact that it had been started only last night yet several visible details sent warning bells ringing off inside of his head.

The statue was obviously meant to be of a person. The pair of marble legs that made up nearly half of the statue's height made that clear to the blond. This part wasn't very worrying to the blond. No, it was the upper half of the statute that was making him question getting out of bed this morning.

From the neck upward, the statue remained one solid structure, uncompleted. Downward, however, an immense amount of precise work had been done. Whoever had worked on the statue had been no amateur. As his eyes scanned over its outstretched arms, Naruto was sure of it. The creator had managed to somehow managed to chisel the stone so it looked as if the statue was ripe with muscle. With each passing glance, the blond almost swore to himself that the thing was moving due to how fluid it all looked.

Attached to the outstretched arm was a completed hand and placed on top of that hand was the cause of the blond's distress. If it had been anything else, he could've written the similarities between himself and statue as mere coincidence. But, the fact that a tray filled with various treats, including his Uzumaki sweet rolls, made him face the grim reality of the situation.

They had built a statue of him.

"Why?" The blond questioned as he continued to stare at the structure. Out of all the possible things he had expected to wake up to this morning, a statue of himself had been nowhere close to his mind.

" **The better question is how did they make it so quickly? We were just here last night**?" Kurama's voice rang through the teen's mind and he couldn't help but agree with the fox. It should've been nearly physically impossible for a group of humans to make so much progress within a single night. The thought of it actually occurring was so outlandish that he was finding it hard to even begin to wrap his mind around it.

"Candy-Sama!" Naruto felt his heart drop in his chest as those words hung in the air. He reluctantly turned his head and saw a middle-aged man running his way.

"We are so sorry, Candy-Sama. We weren't able to finish your memorial in time for your arrival today." Despite how winded he seemed from him run, the man still decided to bow to the blond. Naruto inwardly cringed at the gesture while outwardly he moved to correct the man.

"Please don't bow to me. Its … weird." The blond said, hoping internally that his words would at least be able to deter the man from repeating the act. He still hadn't grown use to the levels of worship some people thought it was appropriate to show him and at this rate, he was beginning to think he would never grow use to it.

"Of course, Candy-Sama. I apologize." The man rose his head to speak then looked as if he was about to bow once more but managed to stop himself before he could go through the full motion. Naruto sighed to himself at the sight of this.

He had a feeling he would be dealing with a lot of this very soon.

"So…" The word came out slow as the blond raised his hand to rub the back of his neck. The silence that had settled between the two had quickly become awkward and he very much wanted to end it.

"What about my shop?" Naruto said while turning his head to look at the massive unfinished statue. While he knew the thing would eventually turn around and become a massive pain in the ass, he could at least appreciate the sentiment. Though, with its existence, there was a serious lack of space when it came to his shop.

"That we already have covered for you, Candy-Sama." By the way the man's face brightened up as he spoke, Naruto knew he was in for something special. Without any warning, the man turned on his heel and began to run in the opposite direction. The teen watched him go got several seconds, very much confused on what had just happened. It was only when the strange man had managed to run a full block length away from the boy that he decided to follow after him.

"Please don't let this be terrible."

* * *

" **...It could be worse**."

It definitely could be worse. In all honesty, if the blond was being truthful for himself, the situation he had found himself in wasn't bad at all. It was the exact opposite of that.

"We apologize on our inability to get you something that wasn't grander. With the suddenness of yesterday's events, we only had but so much time." Despite Naruto's request, the man found himself bowing in the presence of his 'god'. Usually, the teen would've attempted to reprimand him but he was currently busy staring at the building in front of him.

Unlike his shop, this building stood at an impressive three stories high. Most of the structure looked to be made out of wood while stone supports around the exterior. The front door was made entirely out of glass and a single clear window display sat on either side of it. Taped over top of the door stood a large banner that had the words "Candy-Sama" written in red paint and surrounded by several Uzumaki swirls.

"Is this really mine?" Naruto asked, not quite believing the situation he had found himself in. Once again, his day was going nowhere like what he had expected it to go earlier in the morning. His long day of building had been instantly squashed by this new building.

"Of course! It was unanimous among city officials that you deserve the shop. The city wouldn't be the same without you and your business." In an odd sort of way, Naruto found his words to be some of the most endearing he had heard since his arrival in this universe. He had somehow managed to earn the affection of a whole city and, despite the over zealous worship that came along, it made him feel pleasant. It was almost as if he had became Hokage … just with candy.

"Wow … I honestly don't know what to say." He truly felt speechless. A part of him believed he was still dreaming.

"No need to say anything, Candy-Sama. After everything you've done for this city, this is the least we can do." The man said with a bright smile stretched across his face. The grin soon left his mouth when he glanced down at his watch.

"Oh, Candy-Sama!" Naruto's eye twitched at this. His title being synonymous for god wasn't something he was looking forward to.

"I have to prepare for work. I'm sorry but I must go. I hope everything is to your liken. I will see you later today for the grand opening." The man blurted out the words before turning and taking off. Naruto watched him go with no small amount of confusion and a single question playing against his brain.

"Grand opening?"

"I swear to Kami if you drop another plate, I will dispel every single one of you!" A chorus of 'yes sirs' followed Naruto's shout. He gave a strong nod of his head before turning his attention to the utter chaos that was now his shop.

"Coming through, boss!" A flash of gold zipped by the blond's vision. Naruto could only sigh as he watched the flash drove in and out of the crowd of rambling people before eventually being swallowed crowd. The blond could only hope he, and by extension, the plate of cookies he was carrying, had made it to their destination safely.

They all came at once. One second, he had been adding his own personal touches to the rather spartan interior. Within the next moment, customers came flooding in by the dozens. It was as if someone had flipped off a switch, releasing the barriers that had kept the candy lovers at bay.

"Boss, ten more orders of the Uzumaki swirl special!" One of his clones shouted over the noise of the shout. Naruto released a huff at this before turning toward the direction of the shout.

"I'm busy making cupcakes. Get off your ass and do it yourself!"

"We're busy serving people! We can't do it." Naruto rolled his eyes before forming his fingers in a cross shape. With a loud pop and several small clouds of smoke, three new clones appeared by the blond's side.

"Two of you start making buns. One of you go out and get the dishes." Naruto barked out. The clones saluted at his words before dispersing in various directions. The blond could only hope that they managed to complete their task while he returned his attention to the matter on hand.

"You seem busy." Naruto's eyes widened before he swiftly spun around. When his eyes drunk in the sight of his girlfriend, happiness flooded through him. He felt like a starving man who had just stumbled upon a buffet line. Without any thought, he reached down and trapped the girl in a massive hug before lifting her high off the ground.

"You have no idea how happy I am to see you." Naruto spoke into his girlfriend's ear. Koneko couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the boy's odd behavior as she remained high into the air.

"You saw me this morning." Koneko said just as Naruto lowered her back onto the ground. The panic that had once been settled on the blond's face had been cleared away and replaced with his usual coat of happiness.

"Yeah, but you were sleeping and wouldn't even open your eyes to say goodbye." Koneko rolled her eyes at her boyfriend's words but still couldn't help the smile that popped up on her face. The morning had been rather pleasant for her considering she had gotten the chance to sleep in an extra hour. The fact that the first few hours of it had been spent cuddled next to the shinobi had definitely helped improve its quality.

"Candy-Sama." The sound of a customer's voice cut through the duo's conversation. They both turned and saw a nervous teenage girl standing at the counter.

"I … I just wanted to thank you. My boyfriend and I hit a rough patch in our relationship a few weeks ago and I … I brought him a batch of your cookies to make it up. Since then, everything has been better than ever. So … thank you!" The girl shouted the last sentence before bowing her head all the way down to waist level. Due to her bowed head, she missed the look that Naruto and Koneko shared. She raised her upper body just in time for the teen shop owner to return his focus onto the girl.

"Uhhh … no problem, I guess?" The words stumbled out of the blond's mouth. He wasn't entirely sure on what to say in this situation. His clipped response seemed to appease the girl as she flashed him a bright smile.

"Thank you, Candy-Sama. I humbly request an offering of a dozen cookies from you. Please fulfill my request." The girl clapped her hands in front of her while giving another slight bow of her head. Naruto decided to forego any type of verbal reply and simply handed her a piece of paper with a price on it. The girl happily dug into her pockets and proceeded to place a small stack of bills onto the counter. Before Naruto could even begin to count them, the girl skipped away, leaving the blond alone with an amused Koneko.

"Magical cookies?" Koneko asked with a playful tone to her voice. Naruto turned to face her and saw that the girl was making a horrible attempt at trying to hide a grin. It was quite obvious to the teen that she found the situation nothing but amusing.

"Must be why they taste so good."

"No!" Naruto shot back almost immediately. He had to quickly settle himself when he noticed that his reaction seemed to only draw more amusement out of the Nekoshou.

"My cookies are good because _I_ made them. There's no magic involved. Only Uzumaki skill." The blond decided to punctuate his statement with a pose as he proudly raised both of his hands before his face. He held the pose for several seconds, only to receive one of Koneko's patented deadpan looks. At that sight, the blond's hands flopped down to his side while a large pout overcame his face.

"You never feed into my fun." Naruto whined out. Koneko rolled her eyes at her boyfriend's childish behavior before stepping forward and grabbing a hold of his hand. Almost instinctively, his hand melded into her own.

"Not true. Last night." Koneko softly cooed out so that only Naruto and herself could hear her words. She nearly laughed to herself when she felt his grip on her hand tighten. Even though his facial expression didn't change, she instantly knew through their held hands that her words had an effect on the boy.

It was too easy sometimes.

"You were a lot calmer this morning." Naruto mumbled out while attempting his best to keep his features muted.

"Tired from last night." The words came out her mouth with a swiftness that was unusual for her. Naruto looked down at her to send her a glare but found his efforts immediately brushed away at the sight of her coy smile. In the end, Naruto could only huff and roll his eyes, silently admitting defeat. Koneko picked up on his metaphorical white flag and released her grip on her hand while aiming a pointed yet amusing grin at her boyfriend. Naruto, struggling to scrape together the last bit of his pride, met her gaze with one of his own.

"Am I interrupting something?" The moment between the duo came to a quick end at the sound of a deep voice. It managed to reach the two over the noise of the restaurant. The couple reluctantly broke eye contact, mentally agreeing with one another to continue their stand-off later before turning to face the new arrival. Both were surprised to find Artemis stood at the counter, sending both of them a knowing look while clothed in her full combat garb.

"What are you doing here, Artemis?" Naruto asked the goddess. While she had made a bit of a habit in dropping into his shops on random occasions, he hadn't seen her for a while. With the whole drama with Hades, she had temporarily left his mind. Now, though, with her standing in front of him, it was very hard to ignore her presence and its possible implications.

"Oh." Before the goddess could answer, the blond spoke out again. His surprised expression melted into one of worry as he began to slowly inch closer to Koneko. "I'm guessing you heard about Hades."

When Artemis nodded, the blond felt his heart sank deep into his chest. Inwardly, he cursed himself for not considering the implications of his actions before he blasted the death god. If he was understanding the book Dionysus had gave him, he had just killed a god who had familial connections with some of the most powerful creatures in the universe. One of them, the man's niece, was now standing before him.

"Do not worry, Naruto," Artemis spoke out, interrupting the blond's panic. "I do not come for retribution or vengeance. I am not a courier for Nemesis." By the confused expression the boy was sending her, the goddess quickly deduced that she needed to elaborate further.

"Your defeat of Hades has sent waves through our pantheon. His death has left the underworld in a bit of Chaos." Naruto opened his mouth to apologize for the inconvenience but was immediately silenced by a single look from the woman.

"Do not apologize. Us Greeks do not abhor Chaos. We all were born from it and eventually, we will return. We are just thankful that this is a temporary matter. My father plans on visiting this upcoming week and calming everything down. I am here for a different reason." Naruto raised an eyebrow at this before sparring a glance down at Koneko. At least, he attempted to do so because when he looked down, she was no longer by his side. A swift turn to his other side allowed him to locate the girl at the other end of the bar, now with a tray of cookies in hand. He wasn't quite sure how she acquired the treat but could guess she had managed to bribe one of his clones to get it.

"Naruto." The blond's attention was brought back onto Artemis as she called his name. "I humbly request that you meet with me and several associates." The goddess punctuated the request with a hesitant but full bow of her head.

Warning bells immediately went off in the boy's head at the gesture. Everything he had learned about Artemis from the books he had read and the woman herself had shown him that bowing to anyone was not something she'd do willingly. This whole entire situation screamed of trouble to him and after dealing with Hades' nonsense only a day prior, he was not in the mood to encounter more.

"Who and why do they want to meet with me?" Naruto asked. He was already planning to deny the request, considering its shady premise but he decided that at least listening to the woman was the least he could do.

"A group of beings who wish to revolutionize the world wish for your assistance in." Naruto groaned at the woman's words. After what had occurred yesterday, those were not the type of words he wanted to hear today. Those words carried an implication that he would eventually have to deal with.

"Artemis-"

"I know what you're going to say." The goddess cut the blond off. "You wish to avoid this all. To stay docile. I can understand the sentiment. Yet, change is not something you can run from. It would be best if you were part of it to help shape it."

"Well, what gives us the right to go around changing stuff?" Naruto decided to shoot back. It was obvious Artemis wasn't just going to let this drop without a fight and he wasn't in the mood to lay down and lose this one.

"We are divine. God, titan, primordial beings capable of feats that humans can only dream of. When it comes down to it, our influence is what makes this world runs. And right now, a large majority of us realize that change is needed." Artemis shot back her response without any hesitation. The words flowed out of her mouth with a level of eloquence and suffocation that the blond hadn't expected. He was caught off guard and Artemis joyfully took advantage of it.

"Change is coming, Naruto. I plead that you that you decide to take part in it. The town lake, 10 pm. I await your arrival." Artemis bowed her head at this. Naruto remained silent as she turned away from him. The crowd of people split like the red sea as the goddess retreated toward the door. He watched as she opened the doors to the new building before disappearing down the streets of Kuoh.

"You're going to go?" Naruto nearly leapt out of his skin at the sudden sound of his girlfriend's voice. He swiftly spun and saw that the girl was now, and probably for some time, standing behind him. A lone cookie sat in her grip while she looked at him with the expectant expression he had come to adore over the course of their relationship.

The blond sighed before slowly leaning down toward the girl. Koneko watched as his head grew closer and closer to her own. Inwardly, she was preparing herself for a comforting kiss from the blond. If what she heard from her bit of eavesdropping, he would be needing one to get through the rest of the day.

Instead of a kiss, Koneko received something severely less pleasant as Naruto's head swerved off its initial course and dived toward her hand. Before she could react, his teeth dug deep into the body of her cookie. A small part of her cried out at the beheading of her snack. The smug look that had settled onto her boyfriend's face after the horrible act nearly made her see red. She was about to leap up at him and show her just how little she appreciated his actions but was halted when Naruto held out his hand at her.

"What is this?" The girl questioned as she looked at his outstretched hand. Sitting upon its calloused surface was a sphere-shaped object. It looked rather harmless with its black surface and the golden sparkles littered on top of it but after watching the blond mercilessly destroy her cookie, she wasn't ready to trust him just yet.

"A new item I've been working on all morning. I want you to try it out." The innocent tone of Naruto's voice did little to disarm Koneko yet the girl couldn't resist the temptation of the treat in front of her. With caution, she reached up and snatched the sphere out of the blond's hand. She rolled it around in her hand, examining every inch of its circle. When her eyes discovered nothing amiss, she raised it up to her nose and gave it a few quick whiffs. Her cheeks nearly burst with redness at the scent of sweetness that greeted her sense of smell. But, other than that, nothing seemed wrong with the treat. She gave one last cautious look up at Naruto before tentatively biting into the shell of the treat.

Naruto had to hold back his laughter at the harmonious sound of Koneko's moan. As soon as her teeth sunk into the treat, her eyes closed in silent acceptance of the deliciousness she held in her head. She involuntarily clutched it to her chest as her mouth was bombed with the array of flavors contained in the delicacy.

He knew then that he had a hit on his hands.

"What is this?" Koneko spoke breathlessly as she opened her eyes. The Nekoshou looked to be in shock as she stared expectantly up at Naruto. Her mind had been metaphorically blown by the snack and she needed to learn more to piece it back together.

"I think I'm going to call it a 'Sweet-Seeking Ball'. A milk chocolate shell that protects a brownie shell that surrounds a ball of cheesecake that has a tiny bit of vanilla custard in the middle. They're a pain to make but…" Naruto trailed off when he finally took notice that he had lost the girl's attention in favor of the desert.

Unperturbed by her decision, the blond slyly slid her a plate filled with the balls before picking her up and setting her down on one of his stools. When she failed to respond to that, Naruto knew he had officially distracted the girl and could go back to making sure his shop didn't burn down.

* * *

"Dad, if you would just let me do the talk-"

"Nonsense, boy! I survived getting my body chopped into a million pieces and I can survive a conversation."

He watched the bickering duo enter into the shop. Any severity that their argument may have contained was instantly thrown out of the window by the blond at a single glance at their appearance. Their attire was fine, it consisting of rather lux looking black suits. They stood at respectful heights, at least from what Naruto could assume. No, what really threw the blond for a loop was _certain_ personal features.

The older one, at least Naruto assumed he was the oldest due to the way he addressed his 'son', looked to be wrapped from neck to toe in wrap. The pristine, white bindings did a good job in covering nearly every inch of skin of the man. The only thing that wasn't covered was the man's head. His rich, green skin was an oddity that blended rather well with his glowing green eyes.

From the neck down, Naruto noted that the other gentleman looked completely normal. He looked like a normal, athletic and tan man in his suit. The weirdness came when he looked from the neck. That was when he was able to take notice that the man's head came in the form of a jackal.

"Call me old, won't you? I get no respect nowadays. After all the things I did for you." If Naruto had more experience in judging the expressions of a jackal, he would've noticed that the younger male looked exasperated as he talked. Instead, the blond could only oddly stare on as jackal's snout pulled back towards his face while its eyes came to a close. The mummified man took no notice of the expression as he went about hobbling toward the counter.

Naruto, for what felt like the thousandth time in the last hour, felt thankful that the trickle of customers had come to a slow. It allowed him to rest a little while also not worrying that too many people saw the strange display. The sight of the hobbling mummy in a suit was pretty comical but the strange curses that left his mouth every few seconds probably wouldn't have been seen in such a positive light.

"You're that new god everyone's been talking about?" The man finally arrived at the blond's counter and gladly plopped himself into one of the seats. His younger companion sighed out at his question before silently taking a seat next to him. Naruto could've honestly just sat and stared at the outrageous duo for a good thirty minutes but stopped himself from doing so to answer their question.

"Would you believe me if I said I wasn't a god?" The pointed looks he received from both men made it perfectly clear what they thought of his question. Before he could refute their looks, the younger one slammed a binder down onto the counter's surface. Where he got the object, Naruto did not know, but the man jackal-headed man seemed pretty familiar with it as he began to flip through its pages.

"Ability to purify natural energy. Managed to defeat and subjugated the Infinite Dragon God. Defeated the former leaders of the Fallen Angel faction. Killed a seraph level angel. Faded Hades, the most powerful death god." That comment earned a disgruntled grumble from the older man at which the jackal guy rolled his eyes before continuing.

"You even managed to break into the deepest recesses of Heaven and escape captivity." This comment earned a snicker from the mummified man. The other two males turned and saw the man was barely holding himself back from bursting into laughter as he leaned heavily against the counter.

"That was the best one. That Michael up there thought his afterlife was so special! Now, look at him. Can't even stop a single god from poppin' up. Not so special now, ain't it!" The old man spat out. Naruto could only blink at the man's odd statement while his associate sighed.

"Look," The jackal continued, bringing Naruto's attention back onto him. "Call yourself whatever you want. Some people want to call themselves gods, some titans, some primordials and some divine beings. We're not here for that." The man opened his mouth to continue speaking but was rudely cut off.

"You're making my job a pain in the ass, boy." The mummified man grunted out. "You're making everyone's life a bit harder, ain't you?" The confused look on the blond's face clearly showed just how lost he was. The jackal-headed man was about to speak again but was silenced by a scathing glare from the mummy. Seeing that he wasn't going to get another word in, the man roughly closed his binder and settled in.

"If you ain't figure it out, boy, I'm Osiris. Original death god, I was here before any of these new, scythe-wielding bastards showed up. I'm from the generation where we used to flail our enemies!" At this point in the conversation, Naruto was too lost to really understand what the hell the man was saying but he was also too perturbed to ask any questions.

"I also govern the re-birth. Not just for certain humans but for gods too! They fight, they die and they came back. Back then, it was a pain in the ass to go through but I made the system as streamlined as possible! It was efficient! It was the assembly line of death. You die, you serve your time and you come back to claim your domain back from whatever greedy bastard who decided to sink his paws into it." Osiris paused to send the younger male a glare.

"Dad, I was just ho-"

"Don't give me any lip, boy! I ain't as merciful as I used to be." That shut the jackal right up. Osiris huffed victoriously before looking back toward Naruto.

"As I was saying, it was a simple process up until yesterday. I ain't expect Hades to die but when I felt it, I expected to deal with his whining for a few months while he reformed. Instead, I get absolutely nothing. Nada. Zilch. Zero. Not even a drop of his essence."

"So…?" Naruto questioned, not entirely sure where the man was attempting to go with his words.

"So? You took it! You killed a god, boy! A death god, at that. Hades still had a good bit of clout left too so that ain't a simple task." The man descended into a series of mumbles as he broke eye contact with Naruto. The blond, seeing his chance to actually get some answers, immediately looked over to the jackal-headed man who looked absolutely ecstatic to be able to speak.

"What my dad is trying to say is that Hades isn't coming back. He's _dead_ dead. And with his official death, his domain is left up in the air. I'm guessing he left some type of scythe when he died?" Naruto nodded hesitantly at the question.

"Good. As long as you have that thing, consider yourself the new Hades. Welcome to the death club!" The man's excited tone contrasted greatly with the horrified look on Naruto's face.

"You can't be serious, right?" When his question was greeted with a nod, the blond nearly fell to the floor. This was the exact OPPOSITE of what he wanted. Somehow, someway, he had found himself deeper in the utter chaos of godhood. First the statute and now the stupid scythe! What was next?

"Anyway, that's all we wanted to say. Be on the lookout for some minor gods looking to get an easy upgrade. I wouldn't want to be you in a couple of days." With each word out of the god's mouth, Naruto felt his heart sank lower and lower.

"The name is Anubis, by the way. If you ever need any help, feel free to give us a ring. Just break this and you'll message will get through. I have a feeling you'll be needing this soon." The man placed a tiny tombstone on the counter as he barked out a laugh. Naruto slowly pocketed the thing before while he watched Anubis attempted to coax his father to stand.

"Dad, it's time to go."

"It ain't time till I say so!"

"Dad-"

"Shut your trap, boy. I'm getting up." The man grumbled as he began to rise from the stool. He looked to be struggling briefly, prompting Anubis to step forward in an attempt to help. His act of kindness was quickly shot down when Osiris manifested a golden crook in his hand and used the weapon to slap away Anubis' hands.

"The only help I need is from Isis. I'm still convinced she's hiding my…." Osiris' voice trailed off into incomprehensible mumbling at this point that had Naruto straining his ears. He didn't have to strain for long as the god suddenly cut himself off. He proceeded to slam the butt of his crook down onto the floor while staring directly at Naruto.

"This ain't nature, boy. Death ain't all about sunshine, flowers and butterflies. Its impartial, it's cruel, it's sweet, it's painful and it's relieving. You better learn how to get some control over it or you'll have a rough time, boy." Naruto found himself shivering at the atmosphere created by the man's words. Despite his ridiculous appeared, a mummy dressed in a black suit, Osiris' words carried enough weight in wisdom that Naruto couldn't help but listen. And, because he listened, he found himself absolutely mortified at his future.

"By the way, make and deliver this order by the end of next week and you'll be rewarded greatly. My wife is a dessert addict." Osiris slid a piece of papyrus across the counter. Naruto picked it up and briefly noted that the address listed was in Egypt before looking up and noting that the two gods were nowhere in sight.

"First thing tomorrow, I'm adding the seals."

" **Thats a lot of progress for twelve hours**."

* * *

As much as he hated it, Naruto found himself agreeing with his partner as he looked at HIS statute. The idea of a monument to praise him was still a very odd and foreign thing to him.

"I guess the Hokage monument would've been the same thing." He mused to himself. The monument would've been bigger too. Though, the Hokage monument wouldn't have had a detailed rendition of his full body. A lot of progress on his head had been made while he was working. He could now spot his trademark whiskers. There was no denying now that this statute had been made for him.

" **Still want to destroy it**?"

" _Maybe_." The blond thought back as his feet carried him away. The statue represented everything he didn't want to happen. Destroying would, at this point, be somewhat symbolic for him.

" **But you won't**."

" _Yup_." The blond sighed out while internally cursing his stupid bleeding heart. It would not allow him to trample over the hard work of people who just wanted to show their appreciation to him. No matter how annoying it was.

" **You have no one to blame but yourself, you know that**?"

" _Yup_." Both the beast and his container chuckled at this. Despite how inconvenienced he may have acted, the blond knew that at the heart of the situation, his 'misfortune' was so ridiculous that it could be considered funny.

"I'm glad that you seem to be in a joyful mood tonight." Naruto was sucked out of his inner conversation by the sound of Artemis' voice. A quick look around showed that he had somehow managed to walk his way to the town's local park.

"I had a weird day." Naruto said while focusing his attention onto the goddess.

"Be prepared for many more after this." Naruto shook his head at her words.

"I never said I would join." It was Artemis' turn to shake her head.

"Lets just say I have a feeling." The woman's smirk, for some odd reason, gave the blond a very bad feeling. "Are you ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be." Artemis nodded her head before clapping her hands. A moment later, a bright light flashed through the clearing, forcing Naruto to close his eyes.

" **Candy god**! " A loud, booming voice made Naruto power through the light and open his eyes. The blond nearly summoned the sage's chakra instantly at the sight that greeted him.

Giants, massive people who stood nearly four times his height, stood before him. Both men and women, adorned in a variety of clothes including everything from fine robes to full out battle armor. Their presence made them glow and Naruto knew instantly that he was standing in the presence of gods.

" **Candy-Sama**." The same voice spoke out once more. Naruto managed to quickly match the voice to a bearded giant who was wielding a golden trident.

" **We are pleased to finally meet you**." The giant spoke before doing something that nearly shocked the blond out of his skin. He bowed. A full down on one knee and bent head bow. Slowly, the people behind him followed his actions. Even Artemis bowed, leaving Naruto as the only standing person within the park.

" **We welcome your leadership**." The group spoke out as one. Their voice combined in a harmonious shout that filled the area and carried for miles.

"...What?"

* * *

 _ **AN: Well, there's another chapter. I hope that you all enjoyed it. Review or PM me with any questions, concerns, comments, suggestions, etc. Sorry for the late hour of the update. In the middle of editing, I felt ill and decided to lay down for what I thought would be a short rest. It did not turn out to be anything near short. Still not fully recovered so editing isn't 100%. I'll go back and re-edit so if you see any mistakes, please point them out.**_

 _ **I also apologize for the long break between the update. I was doing some thinking and I've finally come to a conclusion on how I want this story to end. While I do enjoy writing it, it will eventually have to end and I feel that the ending I have in mind will satisfy a lot of people who have enjoyed the story up to this point. Do not worry, the ending is nowhere close at this point. I would be lucky to get to it by the end of this year. Just know that I have an ending in mind and the plot, which at this point is so far from the canon that I don't even know what to call it anymore, is being steered into a certain direction. Thanks for reading guys and I hope you all have a good day/night.**_


	34. Chapter 34

"No."

"Naruto, you haven't even sat down and listened."

"I said no. There is nothing you can say that can change my mind."

"I told you this wasn't going to go well." Artemis turned toward her uncle. In the background, Naruto could be seen marching away from the group of giants.

"Let me talk to him." The earthshaker spoke before striding over toward the boy. His massive form had him within the blond's range in a few short steps.

"Hello, Naruto. It is pleasure to meet you. I am Poseidon. To the Greeks, I am the god of the sea." The god greeted in the most cheerful voice he could muster. With his height advantage, he could clearly see the disgruntled look on his face. If he wanted his plans to work out, he needed the boy to be amicable, not disgruntled.

When Naruto continued to walk, Poseidon knew that getting the boy to be happy wasn't going to be an easy task. Drastic measures would have to be taken if this went on for too long.

This time, when Poseidon's foot came slamming down only a few feet in front of him, Naruto didn't hold the sage's chakra back. He allowed the golden, euphoric energy to flow from out of him, covering him in his cloak in an instant. Poseidon raised an eyebrow at the sudden transformation while Naruto settled into a defensive stance.

"I'm sorry if I startled you." The god spoke out. Naruto said nothing in response while keeping his eyes locked onto the giant. Behind him, the beginnings of his truth-seeking orbs were taking shape as he prepared to strike.

"Let me conform to something more fitting for this conversation." The Greek god said out loud before closing his eyes. Naruto tensed up when he felt a physical weight settle upon his shoulders. Whatever the god was doing was making him emit a large amount of energy that saturated the air around him. The blond could feel the ground begin to shake underneath him as the energy grew more abundant.

As the energy output seemed to reach its apex, Poseidon began to morph. It was a subtle change at first, it almost managing to escape Naruto's sharp eyes, yet as it carried on, its effects became much more noticeable. The giant began to shrink. The transformation wasn't instant nor was it slow. Gradually, every aspect of its being grew smaller until he stood at a height that put him only a few inches taller than Naruto. The blond was grateful that the man's clothes had followed his lead in the shrinking process and provided the god with the same amount of modesty he had started with. After the day he had, the last thing he wanted to see was a naked Poseidon.

"I haven't been this small in years." The man chuckled out while giving his limbs a much needed stretch. Compacting the full might of his power to such a small form was a bit of a struggle for him. Naruto remained in his crouch positioned, his eyes still focused on the god. At any moment, he was prepared to send one of the truth-seeking balls blasting forward at the man and wipe away any sign of his existence.

...He had had a bad day.

"I hope we can have a conversation now. I'm not the best talker so Im not sure I can convince you but let me at least explain some things."

"No." Naruto stated while standing back up to his full height. He made to move forward but stopped when Poseidon placed himself in his pathway. Deciding that he didn't want to immediately confront the man, Naruto ignored the blatant blocking attempt and stepped to his right. His brow furrowed when the earthshaker moved in the way to block his path once again.

"Get out of my way." Naruto grunted out at the man. His patience had run out and if the god knew better, he would do the smart thing and move out of the way.

Unfortunately for Naruto, Poseidon wasn't exactly known for his intelligence or his mind reading. The sea god stood firm in his spot, returning Naruto's glare with a gaze that he thought was calming but, in actuality, only served to piss the boy off even further.

"Look, we can talk about this." The man said while holding his hands above his head. He was hoping the gesture would be seen a non-threatening one by the blond and would help get their interaction onto a good route. When the golden boy sighed, closed his eyes and relaxed in his stance, Poseidon thought he had managed to accomplish that.

He soon discovered that his line of thinking was completely wrong when the blond disappeared out of his sight. One moment, he was there and the next, he was gone, a golden flash the only proof that he had been there in the first place. Poseidon could only blink at his sudden departure before a loud sigh left his lips.

"That didn't go well, Uncle."

"I know, I know. We mustn't give up, though. He is the key to our victory."

* * *

This was starting to become a pattern, he noted. He had once again arrived home late and almost every occupant of the house was asleep. The only one who seemed to be awake was Ophis who had decided to wait for him by the door once more.

"...Hello." At the sound of the dragon's soft voice, Naruto felt the exhaustion of the day, particularly his most recent conversation, settle onto his shoulders. He wanted nothing more than to brush past the girl, push her issues and the promise he made her away, lock himself in his room and block out the rest of the world. The temptation was high, enough to nearly push him to do it. But, once again, the moral side of him decided to hijack control of his body and speak despite the fact that it was in the minority.

"How was your day?" The blond questioned while moving toward the couch. If he wasn't able to convince himself to go jump into his bed, he would at least indulge himself in taking a seat. He deserved that, right? At least, that was what he told himself as he flopped down onto the piece of furniture with a low groan.

"...It was fine." The dragon responded after following after the blond. She sat across from him and watched as he sank deep down into the couch. Despite her limited knowledge of humans, even she could spot the exhaustion eating at the blond's face. A part of her wished to speak up, spurring him to go get some rest. Yet, she did not know how to express this. Every time she opened her mouth to talk all she heard was silence. The words that she desperately wanted to speak were trapped within her throat. The feeling was frustrating beyond belief to the young girl.

"Hey, Ophis." Naruto's sleepy voice cut through the dragon's inner conflict. A questioning hum was her reply as she saw the blond focus what little bit of his attention he had left on to her through his half-lidded eyes.

"You want to head to the dimensional gap tomorrow and see if we can find Cao Cao? I need a break from the shop and I made you wait far enough." Once more, Ophis was unable to keep hold of her emotions as her eyes widened in shock. The words became jumbled in her mouth yet again, but this time she forced them out.

"...Yes. I would like this." The dragon did her very best to ignore the heightened pitch of her voice as it left her mouth. She couldn't help it. How could she when the blond was around her? When it came to her, almost every single thing the blond did surprise her. It was all pleasant in an odd sort of way. She didn't usually like surprises but Naruto was changing that. Though she hadn't yet learned to cope with the blond's unselfish kindness and with the way he acting, she wasn't sure if she ever would.

"Good, good," A yawn forced the blond's mouth open wide as he gave his limbs a long stretch. The yawn ended with the teen curling his legs up onto the couch while laying his head down on his hands.

"We can start first thing in the morning." Naruto mumbled out before his eyes came to a steady close. Ophis watched as the twin orbs disappeared beneath the boy's eyelids. He remained conscious for a few moments afterward but the gentle and repetitive movements of his chest a minute later showed he hadn't managed to stave off unconsciousness.

"..." Ophis was silent as she watched the blond's chest rise and fall. It was at this moment that the dragon realized just how defenseless Naruto was. One of the few beings, a human at that, who had managed to challenge her now laid unconscious only a few feet from where she sat. Even now in her weakened form, it would take little more than a thought from her to snuff out his life.

The dragon pushed herself off the couch. Her landing made little noise as her feet began to carry her. Her eyes stayed focused on the sleeping boy while she made her way toward the couch. Each step was quiet, close to completely silent, as she grew closer to the boy. Within seconds, she stood at his side. Due to her height and the height of the couch, the blond's resting head stood at her head level, offering her the perfect view of his resting face.

As his soft snores met her ears, Ophis noted to herself that this was the first time she had gotten such a close look at her 'caretaker'. Through their various bouts, encounters, and talks, she had never taken the chance to fully observe the boy's feature. Now, though, with him being so still and herself being so close, she could see it all.

She could see the slight flaring of his nose with every breath he took. She could see how his whiskers would grow and shrink along with his snores. She could see the smallest edge of his teeth behind his thin lips. She could see the subtle twitching of his nose and the creasing of his brow as he fell deeper and deeper into sleep.

She stood at his side, absorbing every single little detail with her eyes. She found the minute details fascinating yet she did not know why. They were insignificant details. They held no importance or uniqueness. Every single human in existence made them at one point in their sleep. The dragon was sure that if she willed herself to sleep, she too would look similar to how the blond looked. Yet those same bland features, when placed on the sleeping blond, suddenly became interesting. They grew meaning. They made her feel … something.

She still didn't know what that something was and that frustrated her. Emotions were frustrating in general. A part of her yearned to return to a point in time where the only worry in her life was the maintenance of her home. Those days had been filled with silence and comfort, two things she didn't receive very often nowadays. She missed those days.

But now, staring down at the sleeping, she wasn't quite sure if she would exchange her present for the past. Her past had been filled with silence but it had lacked the intrigue that the boy brought. It felt oddly pleasant to be curious about something. It made her days feel a lot more purposeful than before.

A particularly loud snore tore her from her thoughts and forced her attention back onto the boy. The sight of his sleeping face brought forth a new feeling within her. It was an odd thing, more odd than her new set of unknown feeling.

For once, she decided to give in to the feeling. Her hand rose up before she could think twice to stop herself. Its journey through the air lasted for only a few brief seconds before it arrived at its target.

His skin was surprisingly soft considering how much she had heard how humans were hairy and dumb creatures. It sunk in at her touch yet flapped back to its original shape when she pulled back. She stared at her fingers with a sense of wonder before she pushed it back toward his face. This time, its target was the whisker marks on his face.

Once more, she was surprised at the sensation that met her. Where the boy's skin was soft, the marks on his cheek was rough to the touch. It felt like she was rubbing soft pieces of bark as she dragged her fingers across his cheek.

When the blond released a particularly loud snore, Ophis pulled her hand back as if she had touched a flame. She was admittedly a little anxious when the boy's facial features scrunched up in some unseen agitation. Her anxiety grew when he lifted his arm from his stomach to scratch at the cheek she had been petting. But other than that, he did not stir. Which left her plenty more time to continue her examination of him.

"What are you doing?" That time was cut down to zero when a voice spoke out from behind her. With a slow nature to her movements, Ophis turned away from the dragon to face the new arrival, Koneko.

"...I was examining." There was no shame in the dragon's words as she spoke. She had been caught in the act yet, to her, she did nothing wrong. There was nothing to be bashful about.

Koneko hummed in response to the god's words but said nothing in response. Her arms remained folded across her chest as she stood across the room from her sleeping boyfriend and the curious dragon.

"...What is love?" Koneko's arm came uncrossed at the sudden question from the dragon. That was something she hadn't been expecting.

"Why do you ask?" The Nekoshou gathered her composure. With how erratic Ophis had been lately, it wouldn't bode well for her to be off her A game. Though, she didn't think it would matter much. She had a good idea on why the girl was asking her this question.

Ophis didn't respond immediately. Instead, she broke eye contact with the Nekoshou to look down at the sleeping Naruto. Even though Koneko couldn't see the dragon's face, she could spot the inherent struggle within her body as she moved. Even from the back, it looked as if the dragon was fighting the urge to jump the blond.

"...I don't understand it." The dragon finally spoke while remaining staring down at Naruto. "He … says he cares about me. But … not like you. He says he loves you … and does stuff with you."

Koneko couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the somber tone that the dragon's voice had taken. The god sounded upset as she spoke. If the Nekoshou was being completely fair, the dragon sounded like a sad child at that moment.

There was also another emotion clear in the dragon's voice.

Confusion.

The Nekoshou released a silent sigh to herself. She was beginning to see why Naruto found dealing with the girl so exhausting. Not even a hundred words into their conversation and she was already regretting starting it. It felt as if she was trying to explain metaphysics to a child. A child with world ending capabilities but still a child.

"Is this still about sex?" Koneko decided to be straightforward in her questioning. If the dragon was going to be so blunt in her questioning, so would she.

"...No," Ophis admitted while turning to face Koneko. Her steady eyes had been rendered unsure as she stared at the Nekoshou.

"He…" The dragon paused once more to look back at the blond. A quiver ran through her body before she swung her body back toward a curious Koneko.

"He … makes me feel odd." Koneko nodded in understanding before taking a step toward the girl. Ophis whirled around at the sudden movement but did not move past that. She instead aimed a pointed look at the Nekoshou, a look that Koneko managed to return with ease.

"Does it feel like a mixture of curiosity and frustration?" Ophis found herself nodding along to Koneko's words without much thought to her actions. Surprisingly to her, the Nekoshou had managed to sum up her current emotion state with her words.

"What do you want to do when you look at him?" This question threw the dragon for a loop. What did she want to do when she looked at the blond? She risked a glance away from Koneko to do a live demonstration.

"He …" Ophis paused as her eyes swept over Naruto. "He makes me curious."

"I want to know him." The second set of words came rushing out of her mouth without any thought. It was the first time in her life that her mind spoke for her without her having to tell it to do so. It was an odd feeling yet one she didn't find too horrible.

"Then talk to him." Ophis' attention shot back over Koneko. "If you want to know him all you have to do is talk. He does it all the time."

Talking. That was an idea she never put much thought into. As a being who embraced silence and everything that came with it, talking, up until a few months prior, had been a taboo thing. The only talking she did prior to that was with the Great Red, and she found that experience very unpleasant.

Though, the idea of talking to Naruto, now that Koneko had planted it in her head, didn't seem nearly as unpleasant. From the times when she would sit in his shop, she knew the blond to be excitable, energetic, talkative and always bursting with happiness, all traits that she found unbearable. Yet, she didn't grow annoyed with him. The sound of his voice wasn't grating to her. Half of the time, she found herself straining against the capabilities of her headphones just to listen to the teen.

Listening was half the battle, right?

But would she be able to provide the other half? For the first time in a long time, Ophis found herself doubting herself and her ability to talk. She wasn't a talkative person and the world knew that.

"Talking is hard…" Ophis found herself talking unconsciously once more. As the words left her mouth, the dragon noted to herself to fix that.

"Not with Naruto. If you don't talk, he will. If you talk, he'll talk twice as much." Koneko's words were blunt but true. Her boyfriend had a motor mouth that never seemed to stop.

Unless he was interacting with a god, of course.

The dragon remained silent for a moment. Could she really do this? Talking was supposed to be simple but could she really find it within her to subject herself to it.

"...Ok." Ophis relented to the young lioness. She would give 'talking' a try. If it would help calm the raging swirl of emotion within her, she would be a fool not to.

"Have fun. I'm going to sleep." Ophis blinked owlishly as she watched the Nekoshou perform a swift turn and disappear down the house's hallway. The soft sound of feet landing against carpet carried for several seconds before the sound of a door closing alerted the dragon that she was once again alone with the sleeping blond.

"..." With a silence that she had become all too accustomed to, Ophis turned to face Naruto once more. This time, however, the silence wasn't so comforting. It felt odd, especially after the conversation she just had. She felt the need to break it. So, she did the wrong thing she could to do just that.

She began talking.

* * *

"He flies around … always shouting … always annoying. He does those tricks … he looks like an idiot." Those soft spoken words were what Naruto woke up to. His eyes fluttered open with great effort on his part while the words floated through the air. He vaguely processed their meaning and who exactly they were coming from as he began to rise up from the couch. His ascension stopped midway through when a stab of pain cut through his spine. His hand shot up to support the stiff structure while he hissed loudly.

"Never sleeping on the couch again." The blond mumbled to himself while holding his spine. What had been soft and comfortable last night during his bout of tiredness had come back to bite him in the ass.

"Hello." Naruto nearly launched himself off of the couch at the sound of the voice. Ignoring the pain plaguing his spine, he turned to see Ophis sat directly next to him. Silence filled the air as the duo met eyes. Blue clashed with gray as both beings waited for one another to speak.

"Good … morning." Surprisingly, at least for the blond, Ophis was the one to break silence, albeit with a little bit of difficulty. A night of talking to herself and an unconscious Naruto hadn't made her a natural conversationalist.

"Morning." The blond replied while taking a subtle glance around the room. The last thing he remembered was having an exhaustion filled conversation with Ophis before succumbing to the whim of sleep. Any distrust between the two had completely left the boy's mind in that moment of exhaustion. Looking at the dragon staring up at him with such large and trusting eyes made it difficult for him to regurgitate that same mistrust.

"How long have you been up?" Naruto asked, attempting to spur the conversation forward. If Ophis was the first thing be woke up to, he would at least attempt to speak with her.

"All night." Out came the dragon's response. At her words, Naruto turned back to her with a raised eyebrow.

"All night?" He echoed, not entirely believing her. Though, when she nodded a moment later, he couldn't find any reason to not believe. Those eyes just seemed too innocent to lie to him right now. He knew the dragon was anything but innocent but those eyes made him briefly believe otherwise.

"Why were you up all night?"

"I was talking to you." Before Naruto could even begin to question that statement, five knocks echoed off the front door. Both occupants of the room turned their head toward the sound before looking back at each other.

"Ah … I'll get it." The blond scurried off the couch and up to his feet before striding across the length of his living room. He quickly arrived at his front door where he unlocked it without a second thought and let it swing open.

"Hello!" It took only a brief look over at the practically glowing blond mad for Naruto to deduce that the person standing at his front step was a god. He reacted in the only way he could've reacted.

He slammed the door shut in the god's face.

"Well, that was rude." Apollo ran a hand through his golden hair while staring at the wooden door in front of him. Artemis and Poseidon had warned him that Naruto wasn't very fond of the divine yet he hadn't expected such a rude response.

"Time to up the charisma!" The god said while clapping his hands together. The golden glow surrounding him grew brighter as he reached out to knock at Naruto's door. When his knuckles met the door's wooden surface, speckles of gold flakes fell from his skin and attached to the door. With each tap, the gold grew larger and brighter until the whole entire door was encompassed by the strange energy. Apollo was about to knock once more but stopped himself when the door swung open. A frown appeared on his face as he watched the golden flakes disperse from the door. His sadness lasted only for a moment before returned his attention to the grumpy looking blond who had answered the door.

"Hello!" Apollo greeted the teen with a bright smile and a wave of his hand. The prominent frown on Naruto's face told the god everything he needed to know about his current mood. The boy radiated agitation. That wouldn't stop the god, though. If the teen was going to radiate irritation, he was going to radiate happiness.

"I've been told to tell you to go away." The blond grunted out in a monotone voice. Apollo raised a single eyebrow at the odd phrasing of his words but carried on nonetheless.

"I'm not goi-"

"I'm not real Naruto ." Apollo's planned spiel came to a screeching halt at his words. He tilted his head to the side a small amount while his mind attempted to process the blond's words.

"What do you mean by that?" The god questioned, hoping that some clarification would be able to clear up his confusion. As a god of knowledge, not knowing something was a thing he did not enjoy.

"I'm a clone. The real Naruto left a couple of seconds ago." This was something he did not expect. Apollo tilted his head to the side while staring at the apathetic supposed clone. He had come to talk to the real teen, not some grumpy copy.

"Well, can you leave a message for me?"

"No." Those were the clone's parting words before he shut the door, leaving the god standing alone on the doorstep. Apollo's face was blank for several long moments while he remained staring forward at the door. Slowly, a frown began to form against the god's lips while his usual golden glow faded to a dull shine.

"This is going to be difficult."

* * *

Never in his wildest dreams did he imagine he would reach a stage like this within his lifetime. Chance encounters with gods, escape visits from the deepest parts of Heaven or the accidental creation of his own religion hadn't managed to lead him to this wild conclusion.

But, he was here. Despite the minuscule probability of the situation ever occurring, he found himself hiding out from a group of gods in a dimension that existed between dimensions with an exhausted dragon laid across his legs.

"Why can't things just be simple?" Naruto thought to himself while looking down at his legs which were currently trapped beneath the weight of an exhausted dragon. The girl had forsaken any sense of her usual properness as her whole body sat stretched across his legs. For the first time since their fated meeting, he could hear short gasps exiting the girl. It was one of the few signs of exhaustion he had ever seen from Ophis. The action served to disturb him more than their current position as he found himself awkwardly awaiting its end.

" **Maybe try comforting her?** " The idea, which would make perfect sense in the context of any other normal being, would make perfect sense. Unfortunately, Ophis was nowhere near normal. Just months prior, the dragon had wanted to kill him. That intent to kill had turned into an apparent want of sex within moments which, in the blond's own honest, was more troublesome than her wanting to kill him.

Though, at this point in his life, he was willing to try anything. So, with slight hesitation, Naruto reached an arm down to the dragon's back. A light frown appeared on his lips when he felt her stiffen up. The sensible part of him demanded that he pull his hand away immediately yet he ignored it. For a reason unknown even to him, he continued to rub.

Surprisingly, at least to the blond, his actions didn't result in him getting blasted away by the girl. The small ministrations given by him actually did their part in comforting the tired girl. Ever so slowly, her sharp breaths began to smooth out. The rise and fall of her chest settled into an almost unnoticeable rhythm. The pained expression, even though Naruto couldn't see it, morphed into one of content as Ophis closed her eyes and allowed herself to enjoy his touch.

"Ophis?" The dragon's eyes snapped open at the boy's words. His hand came to a torturously slow stop on her back while his questioning tone hung in the air. With a reluctance Ophis wasn't use to showing, she pushed herself off of the boy's legs and onto her own butt.

"I apologize." Naruto's eyebrows shot up at the apology. The look on the dragon's face as she rose her head to meet his eyes were of pure sincerity as she sat across from him.

"Portals … have become difficult since … that." Naruto nodded along to her words, silencing her attempts to verbalize her interaction with Cao Cao. She offered him a nod in thanks before looking around herself.

"I … have returned," Ophis muttered to herself while attempting to rise up to her feet. Her attempt landed in failure when her legs gave out beneath her. A fall back to the ground was eliminated when Naruto reached his arms out and grabbed her. She found herself deposited back onto the blond's lap once more as he kept her from falling.

"I'm … more tired than I thought." Ophis blinked owlishly before looking back at Naruto.

"I … apologize again. I … am halting us." The blond immediately began to shake his head before clasping his hands together.

"No worries!" With those words, several clouds of smoke surrounded the two. Ophis watched the smoke clear out several moments later, revealing a small squadron of blond clones. With a quick salute to their creator, the clones turned from them and dashed away in different directions.

"While you recover for a bit, I'll have my clones go out and search for us." Naruto let loose a bright smile at Ophis while his clones disappeared into the distance. The dragon watched the copies go for a while before moving her attention back onto the smiling blond. A surge of admiration flew through her aa she sent him a small nod.

"...Thank you." The dragon said, earning her a nod from Naruto. With that exchange, the two descended into silence. With the silence in place, both parties soon became aware of their current positions.

"Naruto." As the blond started to grow a bit anxious with Ophis sitting in his lap, she called out to him. He was forced to crane his neck downward to meet her gaze.

"Huh?"

"I … want to talk." If it wasn't for the slowness of the words, Naruto would've thought he had misheard the girl. Ophis wanting to talk? That went against everything he thought about the dragon. But, after listening to her words while staring down into her eyes, Naruto found himself hard pressed to deny her words.

"Talk?" Naruto found himself questioning her anyway. She nodded again, giving him the confirmation he needed. It was an odd request yet one that he didn't have any problems fulfilling.

"I can do that." His enthusiasm came flowing back through him with those words. "What would you like to talk about out?"

That threw the dragon for a bit of a spin. She hadn't prepared for that question. So, she allowed her desires to speak for herself.

"You."

"Me?"

"Yes."

This decision threw Naruto for a bit of a loop. He hadn't exactly shared much of his history with anyone here, excluding Koneko. The thought of sharing his past with the dragon made him hesitate with his response.

Looking down at her, though, made that hesitation fade away. Her wide, gray eyes made her seem so innocent in his eyes. After their morning interactions and the past week between the two, he had been finding it harder and harder to NOT look past the facade of the dragon god. A god? No, she wasn't nothing like that. He had met gods. Compared to them, she was nothing but a simply curious girl.

"Sure." Naruto replied with a soft sigh. The decision had been hard for him. Yet, when he saw the tiniest of smiles appear on the dragon's face, he couldn't find it within himself to complain. Since he couldn't complain, he did the one thing he could:

He started talking.

* * *

 _ **AN:**_ _ **Thank you all for reading. I hope you all enjoyed. PM or Review with any questions, comments, concerns, etc. Have a wonderful night.**_

 _ **As a side note, I want to thank you all for making this the most reviewed fic, second in follows and third in favorites. Everytime I refresh those numbers, I'm shocked at how they continue to grow and how they even got to this point. Thank you all so much for reading. I really hope you have enjoyed the story so far and will continue to enjoy it to and past its end.**_


	35. Chapter 35

**AN: I added a small author's note to the start of the very first chapter. You may want to read it.**

* * *

"No."

"Michael, I need you to stop being stubborn and listen."

"I am not being stubborn. I am simply not allowing myself to believe in such ludicrous claims."

"Michael, do not ac-"

"Enough, Raphael!" The archangel's voice boomed through the office, shutting the angel's mouth in an instant. The pleasant look on Michael's face had been tainted with a striking frown and a scowl. His eyes swept over his militant counterpart, meeting Raphael's eyes after several moments of tense silence.

"I'm not going to attempt to change your mind when you're already so steadfast. Just know of my warning." The angel of health spoke before giving a short bow of his head. He then turned on his heel and walked out of the room, leaving Michael alone in the room.

"Say what you're going to say." Michael said out loud despite how empty his office was. His audience became clear when Gabriel shimmered into existence next to him in a quick flash of white light. A frown marred her face while she stared at her brother's back.

"You should at least consider his advice." Michael rounded on the beautiful angel at her statement, his mouth parted open in preparation for a response. At the sight of the worry on his sister's voice, his mouth came to a slow close. A sigh instead slipped through his lips before his eyes came to a slow close.

"Even you, Gabriel." The female angel shook her head at his words before taking a step toward her brother. She reached out with her hand and placed it on the man's shoulder, making him open his eyes to look at her. Tired eyes met concerned ones as the siblings stared at each other.

"This is just as impactful on me, Michael." At the sound of his name, the man turned away, breaking eye contact while he strode across the room. Gabriel watched him walk around the office for several aimless, silent moments before he settled near its door.

"I can't accept it."

"You may have to. We can no longer ignore him. We have to accept this as a possibility." Her response was quick while she stepped out from behind his desk. Her eyes sparkled with concern while they traced the tired rising and falling of her brother's shoulders from behind. A sigh echoed along with his movements.

"It's a possibility that I never would've thought possible."

"Did you think father's death was possible?" Gabriel spoke, knowing the effect it would have on her brother. She wasn't surprised when he turned to her, hurt and disbelief in his eyes.

"We've grown past the point of the unimaginable," The angel pressed forward. She knew it was best for her to keep talking instead of letting her brother to have a word.

"This is a time of change, Michael. Father taught us to never let ignorance blind us. Do not let his teachings go to waste. He is still with us." With those words, Gabriel walked out of the office, brushing past Michael as she left. The Seraph watched her leave for a moment before the closing doors obscured his view, leaving him alone with his thoughts once more.

" _Father._ " The angel thought before turning his back to the door. In times of trouble, his thoughts would always trail back to his father and now was no different. So, it was with a practiced ease that Michael did the one thing he could do at that moment.

"Our father, who art in Heaven. Hallowed by thy name…"

* * *

"Why didn't you kill him?"

"Killing isn't always the answer, Ophis."

"...Seemed like the answer in that situation."

Naruto rolled his eyes when the dragon's monotone reply echoed from his side. He cut his eyes down toward the girl and saw that she was sending him a dead eye look of her own.

"He … attacked and tried to kill you. Why shouldn't you kill him?" Ophis questioned.

"He was my friend."

"Do … friends try to kill each other? Is that why we're friends?" The girl's eyes lit up with curiosity at the question, causing Naruto to groan. That light meant she wanted an answer.

"No, no, no, no." He made sure to punctuate each word with a shake of his head. He didn't want to risk the chance of any crazy ideas getting inside the mind of the curious dragon god. Something like that could spell disaster for the entire universe.

"We're friends because we … get along." Naruto ended up blurting out the first thing that came to mind. An upset Ophis was not something he needed to deal with at the moment.

"Do … we?" Those once dead eyes were now filled with hope and were pointed right at him.

"Yes we do." He responded with little hesitation and, surprisingly, he could feel a bit of truth in his own words. The feeling brought a slight amount of ease to his mind and the small smile from Ophis following his words only added to it. The two descended back into silence, breaking eye contact with each other to focus on the world around them.

"Naruto," The silence didn't last for long. The blond looked at Ophis at the call of his name and saw that she was once again staring up at him.

"...What is love?" To his credit, the blond barely reacted to the question. In all honesty, he had become accustomed to the wild line of questioning from Ophis. This was nothing but the norm for her to him.

"Well," His hand moved to the back of his neck and began to rub at the area. He could feel the dragon's eyes on him while his own traveled upward to gaze at the sky, his mind searching for the best response to the question while his eyes traced the sky's waning colors.

"It's weird, y'know," The blond started before moving his eyes back down to Ophis. "Love isn't something you can see or hold." Naruto had to hold himself back from laughing when the dragon held her hands up in front of her face to examine them.

"Even people who are in love don't really know what it is." He continued on, bringing her attention back onto him.

"If I had to describe it … I would call it a strong attraction. You can't tell where it came from or how it got to where it is. It can make you feel weird like you never felt before. It's really confusing and frustrating and makes you want to tear out your hair at times but it also makes you really, really happy." He finished his statement off with a strong. He never imagined he would be attempting to explain love to a primordial dragon being yet here he was. Despite the odds, he thought he did a pretty good job. Going off the thoughtful expression on the dragon's face, he couldn't have done too bad.

"Love." Ophis repeated out loud. She took a brief glance down at the folds of her lap before looking back up to Naruto. The blond had decided to look back up at the sky, offering her the perfect opportunity to stare at him once more. Like before, the sight of her boy entranced her and she found the corners of her lips curling upward without command. She did not correct this unconscious movement. After what she had learned from the blond, smiling didn't seem too bad.

The shopkeep and the dragon sat in silence for awhile, enjoying each other's presence and the comfort that came with it. The original reason behind their visit to the dimensional gap faded from the forefront of their minds. The importance of their mission dimmed while the swirling sky of the gap occupied their thoughts.

A small tingling right above his eyes was Naruto's only warning before a rush of memory slammed into his preoccupied mind. His hands went up to clutch his head while his brain attempted to sort through the mass of memories left to him by one of his clones. A low groan began to leave his mouth as the visions of his clones grew more vivid.

"Are …. you okay?" Ophis asked with a hint of worry in her voice. Her focus had been so intently focused on the blond that his sudden change in demeanor had actually startled her into a small jump.

"I'm fine." Naruto groaned while moving his hands away from his head. His once bright and curious eyes now looked tired, almost as if he had lived a whole other lifetime within the course of a few seconds. He turned those tired eyes onto the dragon, and, for one of the few times in her lifetime, Ophis found herself troubled by the look she received.

"I found out what they did with your power."

* * *

There weren't many perks that came along with being a clone. Your existence could be summed up as cannon fodder, your physical being could he dispelled by a single hit and you weren't unique by any measure.

Yet, the knowledge of being a clone opened up a mental gateway in the mind of the creature. The physical restrictions and cautions that his creator loosely stuck to didn't exist for him. He was daring where the original was cautious. He was wild where the original had to be controlled.

So, when he had stumbled upon a stronghold in the middle of the dimensional gap, nothing but excitement had filled him. Covering several dozen acres of land, the thing was an intimidating sight. Large towers shot high into the sky, surrounded by long stone walkways. A massive wall surrounded the whole structure and the clone could spot various kinds of creatures patrolling the way. For all purposes, he should've dispelled himself at that moment so his creator would learn of the structure's location. Yet that wildness that the original had been known for as a child roared within him and demanded he put his short-lived existence into use.

So, he did something stupid. He decided to sneak into the fortress by himself. As a clone, an entity broken within a single hit, this was the stupidest waste of an existence he could've have done. He had reminded himself of this over and over while scaling the spiked walls of the structure. The thought traveled through his head while sneaking past dozens of different mythical creatures and magical humans. It was at its strongest when he had somehow managed to stumble upon what looked to be Cao Cao's personal chambers, guarded by a twin pair of magicians. The temptation to charge the room and put an end to the man had been strong but he managed to contain himself.

Now though, he knew he had reached his peak of stupidity. Staring at the creature in front of him, the clone knew it couldn't get much worse. For once in the total lifetime of all the Naruto's clone, sorrow for his creator filled him. The absolute headache that was going to be brought to the boy due to his discovery was something even the clone could empathize with.

"Hello…" His words came out slow and unsure while he looked at the creature in front of them. It had yet to show him any aggression yet the Naruto clone wasn't taking any chances. It had already taken enough of those in its limited lifetime.

"Hello." Its response was quick, curt and sent a chill up the clone's spine. It reminded him so much so of a certain dragon god. Everything about the creature in front of him reminded him of Ophis. Its long black hair, short stature, innocent female features and poorly concealed feeling of overwhelming power reeked of Ophis. It felt as if he was looking at a clone.

"So … who are you?" The Naruto clone questioned after several moments of silence. The small girl broke the silence with a small hum before looking into the blond's eyes.

"My name is Lilith."

* * *

"Why have I've been tasked with this?"

Apollo wasn't a man of arrogance. He did not think himself above his fellow god. He was a man of warmth, poetry and equality.

"But why me, though? Why couldn't Hestia do this? She's much nicer." The god thought to himself while he walked through the crowd of traveling of students. His ethereal body made him go unnoticed and untouched by the sea of chatty teenagers. Despite this, he found himself more annoyed than ever by their presences. He couldn't even find it within himself to admire the beauty of some of them while his feet carried him with great reluctance toward his target.

"I need this to be over quicker." The man muttered to himself before his form blurred into a single day of golden light. The light snaked it's way through the ocean of students within a matter of moments before shooting across the campus grounds. Its journey continued for a mere instant more before it shifted back into the Apollo's human form. He looked up at the somewhat decrepit door in front of him with a comforted smile on his face.

"That's better." The god muttered to himself before reaching out to open the door. His attempt came to a quick stop when an arc of electricity leapt from the doorknob and sunk into his skin. A loud yelp left his mouth while he jerked his arm backward. He clutched his stinging appendage with his uninjured hand while glaring down at the inconspicuous doorknob. Its clean, bronze surface reflected his disgruntled expression, seemingly mocking him with each passing moment.

Apollo quickly decided he didn't like this particular doorknob.

With a small huff, Apollo transformed into the singular beam of light before propelling himself toward the door. His form phased through its surface with ease and he popped out on the other side of it with a smug grin on his face. He turned to face the door, making sure to look down at its knob, while an air of self-satisfaction radiated from him.

"You can't keep out Apollo. No one can." The man spoke to the inanimate door before turning to observe the room. He took immediate notice of the various archaic and dark symbols hanging from its walls. The whole area was not well lit, adding to its bleak atmosphere. All in all, the god hated the room.

"Needs much more light." The man noted to himself before his ears picked up on the sound of running water. Before he could even begin to stop himself, he began to move toward the sound. His light and airy form cut through the darkness of the room with a swiftness he had become famous for as his ears guided him. The speed of his walking only increased when the subtle sound of humming reached his ears. The noise was nearly drowned out by the running water yet the god's enhanced senses allowed him to hear it.

"Is someone showering?" The god thought to himself while the sounds grew louder with each taken step. His question soon became answered when he was forced to stop lest he walk through an oddly placed curtain. The thing sat between two long spans of walls and its odd pink color contrasted with the rest of the room's interior.

He didn't ponder on the oddity for long before pushing his head past it with a caution filled curtain had done a mystical job in concealing the large amount of warm mist that hung in the air on the other side of it, leaving Apollo to find out the hard his face broke through the barrier, he was forced to suck in huge breath of water vapor. He choked down a strained cough, his face red with effort, while holding a hand to his mouth. Several muffled puffs of air left his lungs left his lips but nothing further past that.

With his slyness still in place, the god attempted to peer through the thick fog of the room. The sound of humming at hit the apex of its volume, alerting the god that it was a definite that someone was in the room. As he strained his eyes to catch a glimpse of the person, he missed the sinister presence behind him.

"Perverted god, is this how you want to die?" A voice cooed into his ear from behind him, startling the god into yelping. He moved to turn around to see who had managed to sneak up on him but the turn of his head was stopped when the bottom end of a metal tray slammed into his head. While the tray dented inward from the impact, his now stinging head was force backward. His assailant wasn't the merciful type, he learned when they then proceeded to slam the edge of the tray against the crown of his head. He was sent tumbling ass first into the mist-covered room while golden blood oozed from a small cut on his head.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Apollo shouted when the sound of the tray cutting through the air reached him. His pleading came a little too late as the late side of the tray met his cheek, forcing him to grab onto the ground lest he be thrown face first toward it. The sting left by the tray made the god decide that he did not want to get hit hit by that thing again.

"I'm here to learn about Naruto!" The god shouted, hoping that the knowledge of his mission would stop his assailant. Though, he still had his hands raised above his head.

You could never be too safe, he often told himself.

"Akeno, take him to the main room and then go get Koneko." Apollo heard a voice say from deeper into the room. He could only assume that this was the hummer he had been searching for before he was yanked up to his feet by a hand. The hand, gripping him by the his arm, then pulled him out of the mist room, restoring his full sight back to him.

"You're lucky Rias-sama is so nice. I would've loved to decorate the whole tray with your beautiful golden blood." Without the mist or a tray obscuring his vision, Apollo could now see the beautiful, black-haired girl standing by his side. He didn't get much time to admire his figure for he couldn't take his eyes off the sight of the bloodied tray the girl held. The look she was sending him combined with the protective way she was holding the dented tray made the god want to exit the building immediately.

Unfortunately he would not get the chance to do so. At least not at the moment for the devilish girl was guiding him to the room's couch. A hard push from the girl sent him off his feet and ass first onto the couch. Bewilderment filled the god at the act. He had been manhandled by the young girl for the past several minutes and by the joyed expression on her face, the girl knew it. Her grin all but screamed that at him before she turned and skipped out of the room. He had expected to run into a bit of oddity during his visit but nothing he could've imagined would have prepared him for this.

"I see you've met Akeno." A voice calling from the opposite end of the room beckoned the god to it. He turned his head and was greeted with a stunning and now clothed young beauty whose wet redhead laid spread out over her shoulder. The sight of her reminded him of his own coveted racle, so much so that he could imagine the white and golden robes of his servant hanging from the girl's body while she preached to the people about his grace.

"Akeno? Is that her name, huh?" Apollo paused to rub his chin. The thoughts running through his head was soon turning this waste of a visit into a golden opportunity.

"Apollo-san." The man's attention was brought away from his thoughts by the call of the redheaded girl. Half of her now sat hidden behind a desk. The other half revealed her idle gaze while her head sat supported by her clasped hands.

"Ah, you've heard of me." The god sat a little higher in his seat at this. It always stroked his ego to hear others, especially ones outside of his own pantheon, know of him. It served as a testament to how far the reach of the sun god stretched.

Let it be known that Apollo was not a modest man.

"I have heard of you." She responded before leaning back into her seat. "It hasn't been all pleasant but I have heard it."

That second comment served to deflate the god's inflated ego in a single moment, causing him to sink low into the couch. Before he could sink too low into his pit of depression, Rias stood up from her seat, bringing the god back to alertness.

"Apollo, son of Zeus and Leto, god poetry, music, the sun, and medicine, to name a few." With each uttered word, the god's deflated ego received a puff of confidence.

"You're also the same Apollo who is known as a disease bringer. A herald of the plague. The indirect murderer of Achilles. A killer of children. A houndish man whose advances have driven women to suicide. A rapist, a liar, a thief and a coward." And just like that, he was brought back down to his basest level. The intense gaze she was sending reminded him of the one his mother, Leto, used to send him when he did something to anger one of the gods.

"All of that was in the past. I am a changed person." The god's words seemed to fall on deaf ears if Rias' unchanging expression was anything to go by. Any hope of winning the girl over died in that instant as the god stared into the girl's apathetic eyes.

The tension within the room received a temporary pause when its door slid up with an audible creak. Both devil and god turned their head toward the sound and caught sight of Koneko entering the room with Akeno right behind him. The young girl looked less than pleased while she walked her way across the room to stand at her King's side.

"We came sprinting over." By the joyful tone on the Akeno's face and the stoic one of the Nekoshou's, Apollo felt as if he had entered into the lion's den. Even with his godly nature, he couldn't help but shrink down beneath the combined gazes of the three girls.

"Now, Apollo-san." The god's attention was focused back onto Rias. "You said you came here to talk about Naruto."

"Well, yes. I wished to discuss some thing-"

"What do you want with Naruto?" Koneko cut the god, forcing his attention back onto her. His baby blue eyes met her golden eyes and he was forced to bear the full weight of her silent passion.

"Well, we, the Greek Pantheon, merely wish to extend an olive branch out to him. We believe that a partnership between our two groups would result in a beneficial outcome for all." The god allowed his natural charisma to take hold and do the talking for him. The words leaving his mouth only served as a reminder on why he was chosen to come speak to the devil. If there was anyone among the Greeks who could woo a crowd to their side, it was going to be him.

"You're the worst." The dry voice coming from the Nekoshou was beginning to prove that god wrong. None of this was going the way he wanted it to go. This became even more clear to him when the smal girl began walking toward him. "You're a liar. I don't like liars. Naruto hates them." Each taken step by the girl made the god shrink down and down into his seat. A yelp almost left his mouth when she jabbed an angry finger into the middle of his chest.

"Do not lie about Naruto-kun or I'll kill you." She growled out, shocking the god and the other devils present. The shock continued to grow when a mist of black began to rise from the sole of her feet. The mist drifted up the length of her body, casting a long, dense shadow to fall over half of her features. Her visible goldeneye seemed to grow even brighter in the contrast as it peered down at Apollo.

"And, if I can't kill you, Naruto will."

Burning fires on top of Mount Olympus. His temple along with every other on the mountain had been rendered into a pile of rubble. The bodies of his fellow gods, his family members, laid cold and unmoving. Their golden blood painted the white limestone streets. Muted screams, some sounding all too familiar for his liking, tore away at his hearing. The grand street of Olympus, a road he traveled countless of times in his youth, laid in utter ruins. He saw hell on that street. And, sitting at its end was the blond he has come looking for.

"So, Apollo," At her words, the vision shattered, leaving the god face to face with Koneko. Any facade of confidence laid broken at his feet, shattered by the girl's gaze. "What do you want with Naruto?"

Apollo wanted to open his mouth to denounce the girl's word. He want to rise up and strike the girl down for her insolent behavior. For daring to threaten an Olympian! Yet, every time he willed himself to speak, a hand would grab at his throat. It held him close and tight, whispering to him the doom that would fall onto him if he followed through with his threat.

"I-I…" The meekness of his own voice forced him to stop. He swallowed hard, attempt to will any of his remaining confidence to the surface. His emotional well came up dry, leaving him only with the feeling of impending doom and grief.

"We … wish to recruit Naruto into unsealing the beast of Apocalypse to use to overthrow my father." Once the words left past his lips, the pressure around his throat faded away. He slumped down into the couch with a long sigh, missing the shared looks between the three girls. Rias released an almost silent sigh before running a hand through the red tresses of her hair.

"I need to call my brother."

* * *

Life, so far at least, has been interesting. She would've called it odd but she did not have anything else to compare it to. The short string of experiences that made up her existence didn't offer much variety…

Until now.

Her eyes swept over to the creature standing with its back to her. The spiky, yellow tuft of hair sat atop its head swayed back and forth with its movement. The sight reminded her of the man, Cao Cao if she remembered his name, who had been their at the beginning of her memories. The two seemed to made up of a similar material, though their behavior differed from one another.

"I can't believe this." Those same words were the only ones he had uttered in the past thirty minutes, excluding the small chat he had with a clone of his. She had been surprised when the boy had conjured up the copy and that feeling carried over when she watched the thing explode into smoke moments later. The 'death' of the clone brought her sadness. One's life should never be so short and fleeting.

She wished she had more memories. Life had only started weeks ago and her experiences had been mostly confined to this room. Every once in awhile, Cao Cao would visit along with others. They would question her, asking about her emotional and physical well-being. The physical questions she could understand since it had been explained to her that she would eventually serve in the role of a bodyguard. The questions dealing with her emotions troubled her. They brought about odd sensations and feelings within her. She didn't like them at all. Not one bit.

Like distant thunder rumbling from the horizon, the room began to shake, causing Lilith and the clone turned to one another. Their attention was turned upward when the shaking increased, sending bits and pieces of the ceiling falling to the ground.

"What is that?" She questioned while moving her attention over to the clone. By his loud proclamation of relief, she assumed he had some knowledge on what was causing the shaking.

"That should be the original me and Ophis. Probably more of her than him." He muttered out the second half but she managed to pick up on it. The 'original' part interested her. The way the blond said it made it seem as if he wasn't a person to begin with.

"Who is Ophis?" She asked. Her overall curiosity soared when she saw the boy cringe at her words. Her words had managed to trigger something within him, something painful if his reaction was anything to go by.

"She is…" The clone started before his mouth came to a close. It repeated this action several time, each time making Lilith's curiosity grow. The repeating pattern came to an end when a sigh slipped past the clone's lips. He turned to look at the girl with an exhausted quality to his eyes.

"It's a long story."

* * *

"You all will die."

Naruto was a bit conflicted at the moment. Floating high in the air, clothed in the golden chakra of the sage, his eyes cut between Ophis and the ground below. The dragon's face was set in a harsh mask while her corrosive dark energy surrounded her in the form of a massive dragon.

When his clone's memories had struck him, he knew he was in for a heap of trouble. He wanted so badly to dismiss the thoughts as mere illusions but he knew he couldn't. He also knew he couldn't hide the information from the dragon. This wasn't a minor detail that could be swept away, never to be spoken about again. Another being had been created using her power. He had to tell her.

"You all stole from me." He heard her say before simulating a downward punch. Her avatar followed her movement, bringing its massive clawed hand high through the air before bringing it down on the structure below. The condensed energy tore through one of the towers with ease, sending its bricks scattering and crashing across the ground. Ophis then sent her arm sweeping to her right side. Her avatar followed suit, it's ethereal arm plowing through entire sections of the structure.

"This may have been a mistake." Naruto mumbled to himself while watching the dragon tear through the building. Through his clone's memories, he knew that there were a large amount of living creatures within the fortress. Ophis' attacks were bound to have killed a small amount of them.

Yet, on the other hand, these people were responsible for lying, kidnapping her and stealing her powers. He could see the reasons behind her anger, and, for the life of him, couldn't not justify her actions.

"Cao Cao … you've lived too long." That, Naruto could agree with. And, despite his peaceful nature, he knew that to avoid destruction, you sometimes have to do things you didn't like. So, it was with those thoughts that Naruto manifested a clone and sent it diving toward the fortress, or what was left of it. He watched his copy disappeared through one of the newly created holes of the building before moving his attention back to Ophis. She looked to be in the process of charging up an attack, if the appearance of a large black orb in the mouth of the dragon was anything to go by.

"This is not going to be good."

* * *

"The moment we enter the room, you fill it with dimension lost and teleport us away. I don't care where just make sure you have Lilith. Do you understand, Georg?"

"Yes, Cao Cao."

The two Longinus users ran through the shaking hallways of the building. Distant screams could be heard over the sound of their pounding feet while they ran.

Hell had been unleashed upon the duo. It had come quick without warning. It had struck them when they least expected it. And now, it was threatening to ruin all their plans.

"I will not allow this beast to stop me." Cao Cao thought while making a sharp turn around a hallway corner, his feet slipping on the loose carpet of the hallway. He slammed his hand against a wall, recovering his balance before continuing his sprint. Georg didn't have as much luck in his turning. He found his face planted firmly on the ground while his leader stopped in front of one of the hallway's doors. He didn't hesitate in reaching out and pulling the door ajar, revealing its contents to him.

"Hello, Cao Cao." Lilith greeted the man with a lazy wave. Her greeting fell on deaf ears for the man's attention was on the other occupant of the room. His fellow blond looked sheepish as he stood next to the young girl. The clone offered up a bashful wave while inching toward Lilith. The man wouldn't dare attempt to hurt him if the dragon clone was in the way, right?

The clone was proven wrong when the man's hand began to emit a blinding light, forcing him to shield his eyes. Lilith seemed unaffected by the light as she stood staring at the hero descendant. The clone kept its eyes covered for several seconds before moving his hand out of the way, revealing a now spear wielding Cao Cao. He raised the weapon high into the air while taking aim at the blond

"I won't question how you got here. I'll simply dea-" His words became trapped in his throat when a large beam of energy blasted the hallway behind him out of existence, exposing the room to a view of the dimensional gap. The force from the attack sent him down to the ground while the room around him shook. The Naruto clone was in a similar position while Lilith didn't look the least bit bothered, if her bored expression was anything to go by.

The girl did raise an eyebrow when a black tendril shot through the air toward the downed Cao Cao. It wrapped around him slender waist before he could take notice of its presence. As he realized that he was within its grip, it retracted back through the air, pulling the man along with it and leaving the clone and Lilith alone once more.

"Was that Ophis?" Lilith turned to Naruto after several seconds of silence. During the silence, he had managed to climb back up to his feet and now stood facing her. Any sign of his worry was now gone from its face. In its place stood a mask of acceptance.

"Yeah. That was her."

* * *

Cao's tentacle-aided flight through the air lasted for a short few moments, moments in which he was able to gaze upon the wrecked ruins of his fortress. Half of it had fallen to black flames while the other half had turned to rubble. He didn't have much time to lament the loss of the base before he slammed against the ground. As his back met the ground, a scream attempted to worm its way out of his throat, but he managed to clench his jaw shut, stifling the sound. He wouldn't allow himself to fall to such a level, even in the of destruction. This grim determination allowed him to turn his gaze upward, meeting the angry gaze of Ophis. The girl sat several stories high in the air yet her eyes burned a hole straight down to the man. Cao Cao took note of the tendril of energy restraining him that came from her body before returning her glare with a slight upturn of his lips.

"Back so soon, Ophis? I'm surprised to see you still standing! We put your through the ringer rather well." The man shouted up to the girl. A slight narrowing of the dragon's eyes were the man's sign of how stupid his words were before he found himself lifted back up through the air. His journey carried him to entry-level of the dragon's avatar before he was sent rocketing back down to the ground. The force of the meeting cratered the earth beneath his body and forced a scream out of the man's lungs. The scream didn't last for too long when Cao bit deep into his lip, drawing blood but closing his mouth. With his lips covered in crimson, he directed his gaze, now much more shaky, up at Ophis.

"I will not succumb. I will not falter. My place is above you!" The man shouted before his spear appeared in his open hand. His clenched his fist around the weapon before thrusting it toward Ophis. The tip of the weapon began to glow a brilliant array of colors as Cao kept it focused on the dragon. The confident look on the man's face seemed to spell out his victory while the colors reached their peak brightness.

"Face the true power of human-" So consumed in his own attack, Cao Cao never saw a snake slither its way out of the dragon's foot toward him. He was caught completely off guard when the snake sunk its teeth deep into his arm, turning his words into a pained scream. His spear went falling from his hand and disappeared out of existence while he attempted to shake the creature off his body. His efforts proved fruitless as the creature kept its jaw locked.

"You … are pathetic." Ophis muttered while she watched the man flail his arm in an attempt to remove her snake. She stood staring at the scene for several moments, allowing it to burn itself in her memories before raising her arm. Her avatar followed her movements, it raising its arm massive arm an instant after her. She stopped her arm a little above her head before closing her fingers into a fist, her avatar copying her movements the whole way through. She allowed herself to stay still for a few moments before bringing her fist crashing downward. Her avatar's fist flew through the air before landing on her target, the downed Cao Cao. Any last words would be forever lost when the fist slammed through its body, obscuring it from view. Ophis made a twisting motion with her first, making her avatar grind the man's smeared body into the ground. She kept this up for several seconds before pulling her fist away, revealing that Cao Cao was now a red smear.

Naruto watched this all occur with grim acceptance. He wasn't happy watching the man be crushed into the ground, yet he couldn't find it within himself to stop the girl from doing so. After what the man had done, death wasn't the worst thing that could have been done to him.

The blond's attention was focused onto Ophis when he noticed the layers of her avatar beginning to fade away. He lowered himself down to the ground while the massive ethereal dragon grew shorter and shorter. It didn't take long for the construct to fade away completely, leaving Ophis standing in front of a chakra-cloaked Naruto. The girl's gaze was full of exhaustion as she stared at the blond.

"Killing him … was the answer." Ophis breathed out. The girl looked as if she was moments away from dropping yet her voice sounded more sure than ever. In all honesty, he wanted to laugh at her and was close to doing just that but stopped when the sound of a twin set of footsteps reached his ears. Ophis must've have heard the sound at the same instant because she turned with him to face the noise. The exhaustion on her face cleared up in an instant at the sight that greeted her.

"She's all safe and sound, boss." The Naruto clone said while walking next to Lilith. With a nod from his creator, the clone dispelled itself. The sudden arrival of smoke didn't seem to bother the young girl while she continued her walk toward Naruto and Ophis. She locked eyes with Ophis while each taken step brought her closer to the girl. Naruto watched the two with a held breath as Lilith stopped directly in front of Ophis. The two look-alikes stood in silence for several long moments with their eyes locked together. Worry began to build up within the blond's breast when the silence dragged on. He began to subtly inch away from the duo while keeping his attention locked on them. He didn't want to be anywhere near here if a fight broke out between the two.

"Hello, mother." Lilith broke the silence, forcing Ophis' eyes to widen in extreme shock. The girl didn't stop there as she turned toward Naruto. Before the words could leave her mouth, the blond could feel his own eyes widening. The pit of worry slammed down into his stomach while the girl's lips moved to talk.

"And, hello, father. Thank you both for rescuing me."

* * *

 _ **AN: Well, there's that chapter. One of the more interesting ones I've written, in my own opinion. Cao Cao is dead. Yup. I know some people may be a little disappointed with his death since it was a bit anti-climatic but I thought it was fitting for an encounter with Ophis. A lot of other stuff happened, some which have been resolved within the chapter by itself and some that will be exposed in future chapters. Of course, if you have any questions, feel free to PM me and I'll answer them all. I hope that you all enjoyed the chapter. Review or PM with any questions, concerns, comments, suggestions, etc.**_

 _ **P.S Is anyone upset at how I betrayed Apollo? Asking out of curisoity. I realized I made him very ... bitch-like. I found it funny, though I can see how fans of his could think otherwise.**_


	36. Chapter 36

"Who thought this was a good idea?" Each word except for the last was punctuated with the sound of a smack and a small cloud of smoke. The lives of six clones had been lost to the agitated fists of Naruto Uzumaki. When the blond moved to punch the last clone, the being made the wise decision of dodging out of the way of the fist. His actions earned him a glare from his creator while the clone held his hands up in defense.

"Well, the clone was the one who told Lilith. And really, the clone is yo-" That clone's existence came to an end when Naruto's fist slammed into his face. The boy released a huff while the cloud of smoke dispersed around his fist before he turned his attention to his right where Ophis and Lilith stood to face each other.

"Mother." Ophis tilted her head to the side at Lilith's call. Her brow furrowed while she ran her eyes over her 'clone".

When Naruto had first told her that Cao Cao had created a copy of her using the power that he stole, she has been infuriated. The rage that had built up within her had been the some of the strongest she had ever felt. All she wanted was to eradicate everything at the fortress, including the bastardized copy of herself.

Yet, standing in front of her look alike, she didn't feel any of that rage. Her chest wasn't tight with anger. It sat loose and free in her 'daughter's' presence. It was a relatively new feeling, one introduced through her time with Naruto, yet it didn't feel awkward to the eternal dragon.

"...Daughter." She tested the word out with slight hesitation and found its sound to be somewhat freeing. A strange warmth began to form within her bosom while Lilith nodded at her.

"It is nice to meet you, mother. Our separation was puzzling but I admit it has made our reunion much sweeter." Ophis took immediate note of her daughter's verbosity. It was a stark contrast to her own way of speaking in as few words as possible. Inwardly, she was grateful for it. That small difference made it much easier to view the girl as a separate being.

"Father doesn't seem as thrilled." Lilith said while turning her head to look over at Naruto. The blond was looking over as well yet showed he was anything but enthusiastic.

"He's … had a long day." Ophis spoke while she watched the blond trudge his way toward them. Each taken step by him seemed to take a little out of his soul if the look on his face was anything. After several silent moments, he arrived where the dragon duo stood. He stood looking at Lilith for a short while before switching his attention over to Ophis.

"Are you okay to take us back?" His words sounded so tired coming from his mouth, she noted while nodding. Her razing of the fortress and the sudden introduction of Lilith had left her with a surprising amount of energy. She moved to summon a portal to transport the group of three back to Naruto's home but was stopped when a hand landed on her shoulder.

"Allow me, mother." Ophis raised an eyebrow after turning to see Lilith with her hand up. The two locked eyes for several moments before the dragon responded with a nod. She took a step away from her daughter while the girl raised her arms high into the air. She brought her two hands together in a clasped union before shutting her eyes.

Naruto and Ophis watched in silence while the girl stood with her outstretched arms. As the moments began to stretch on, the duo began to doubt the girl's ability to reproduce Ophis' technique. That doubt was swiftly wiped away when the girl started to pull her hands apart. With each separated inch, a rift began to take from. The observing duo watched with shocked interest while the girl, with her bare hands, tore a hole in the dimensional gap. The young finished off the action with a loud grunt while spreading her arms fully apart. The rift responded to her movement, spreading to nearly four times its original size. With the portal created, Lilith turned around to face her parents before giving a slight bow of her head.

"After you, mother and father."

* * *

Sirzechs was bored. And, oh boy, did it show. If anyone in the meeting room bothered to look his way, they would've seen the man idly forming a pyramid out of a piece of paper.

"The presence of the Greeks is alarming. As per the norm for past few months, they seem to congregate near Naruto Uzumaki's shop." Sirzechs glanced up at the mention of the blond's name. At the sight of Ajuka presenting with one of his tablets, the devil sighed before returning his attention back to his pyramid.

Naruto Uzumaki. The thought of the name made the man roll his eyes. Ever since the boy had come charging into his life, he had been nothing but trouble. And just when he thought all of the excitement had started to die down with the peace talks, the boy still managed to attract trouble.

"I say we confront them immediately!" Sirzechs mouthed the words of the devil representative in a childish manner while lifting the pyramid in his hands. In his own opinion, the devils were too quick to act. Their impatience had been the cause of a lot of strife in the past.

"When is this stupid meeting over?" The devil thought to himself while crushing the pyramid in his hands. He slouched his head and arms down onto the table while staring over at Ajuka. Despite the fact that the man's mouth was moving, Sirzechs wasn't hearing a single word being said.

His mind had left the meeting a long while ago.

"Sirzechs-sama." The man's ears perked up at the sound of a voice coming from behind him. He turned his head and felt his face light up in an instant at the sight of his beautiful wife. His eyes drank in her figure for several moments before meeting her eyes.

"Rias has requested your presence." The woman barely managed to get the words out of her mouth before her husband was up out of his seat. The man wrapped her up in a massive hug, lifting her off of her feet for a brief moment before throwing her into what used to be his seat. She managed to catch a brief glimpse of his back before he disappeared out of the doors of the room in a blur of red motion, leaving her alone to deal with the curious yet knowing looks of the remaining devils in the room.

"Rias?" Ajuka asked with a raised eyebrow. Grayfia gave a seldom nod in reply while fixing her outfit. Like so many times before, she would have to take responsibility for her husband.

What else was new?

* * *

Despite that the two were living together, Kuroka rarely got to have real personal moments with her sister. The fact that the girl was living with her boyfriend made it somewhat difficult, especially with how hectic the boy's life was. Though, whenever she could steal away the girl, she would gladly do so.

 _Whenever frustrated, I'm a hijack Delta_

 _In the PJ's, my blend tape plays, bullets are stray_

Kuroka let loose a sigh that was immediately drowned out by the two speakers playing from the opposite side of the room. While she did love her sister beyond belief, she had to question her interest in music. Of all things to have an ear for, the young Nekoshou was obsessed with American rap music. It was odd beyond belief, seeing the four foot something girl bobbing her head to the bass-heavy track and rampant cursing, yet that sight made her smile. Maybe it was because of how ridiculous it was or maybe it was because it was her sister. Either way, Kuroka had learned to embrace it.

"Konek-" Koneko's raised hand stopped her older sister from speaking. Kuroka rolled her eyes at the gesture as the girl's head bobbed away in a frenzy. The older Nekoshou was prepared to reach over and pause the music, an act that would unknowingly earn her the eternal ire of her sister, but stopped herself when a strong wind began to blow through the apartment. The odd thing about the wind was that not a single window in the room was open.

"Uhhh, Koneko…" Kuroka's words went ignored by her sister once more. The girl was too deep into the music to take notice of the anomaly taking place within the room, leaving Kuroka as the sole witness. The wind within the room grew stronger, enough to send to the locks of their hair blowing across their face. The former stray devil rose up to her feet, her eyes searching for the source of the wind while Koneko remained firmly planted on the ground, her head still bobbing along to the music. Even when the wind reached a point where it began to shift the furniture of the room, the girl remained ignorant to it all.

It became hard for the girl to ignore what was going on in the room when a portal appeared in the center of the room. Kuroka let loose a loud shriek at its appearance while Koneko stopped moving her head to look at the anomaly. Her eyes stayed transfixed on the thing as three figures came out of the portal. Two of the figures she recognized, one being her ragged boyfriend while the other being the dragon god that had been living under the same roof as her.

The other figure, though, Koneko wasn't familiar with. She was the last to exit the portal and with her entry into the living room, the portal faded from existence. The young girl made an immediate beeline to stand in between Naruto and Ophis. It was there that Koneko took notice of the similarities between the new girl and Ophis. The two might as well have been twins with how much they looked like each other.

"Hello Naru!" Kuroka shouted from behind the safety of the couch. At the sight of the Ophis look-alike, she knew that her peaceful morning had come to an end. Now was the time to try to avoid as much damage as she could.

The blond let out a grunt in response before trudging over to his couch. The group of four women watched him collapse onto the piece of furniture with a loud sigh before closing his eyes. With the boy seemingly out of commission for the moment, the group focused their attention inward.

"Ophis." Koneko decided it would be best to address the dragon first. With the way her boyfriend looked, she wasn't going to get many answers out of him, leaving the dragon as the next best source.

"Koneko." The dragon nodded in response. The two shared a brief look with one another before they both turned their attention to the dragon's clone. In the brief moment that they had taken their eyes off of her, the girl had managed to make her way away from Ophis over to the set of speakers. They had managed to survive the appearance of the portal and were still going strong with Koneko's music.

 _The Buddha monk's in your trunk, turn the bass up_

 _Not stories by Aesop_

"What is this?" Lilith mumbled to herself while standing inches away from the speakers. The loudness of the speakers sent her hair blowing across her face. She reached out an interested hand only to pull it back when a loud string of bass nearly pushed her away.

"That is rap music, the best kind of music." Lilith turned to see Koneko was now standing behind her. The two met eyes for a brief moment before the clone turned her attention back to the speakers.

"Rap?" Lilith muttered out.

"Do you like it?" Koneko managed to pick up on the girl's mumbling despite the loud music being played on inches away from her. Lilith said nothing at first. She seemed too entranced by the music in front of her to listen to the Nekoshou.

"Yes." The girl showed she was listening when she turned and belted out the single word. Koneko's face lit up at the response, her lips stretching into a small smile.

"Do you want to hear more?" The young dragon hesitated for a brief moment before nodding her head. Koneko did the same before clasping the girl's hand. Lilith didn't react to the sudden physical contact nor did she when the Nekoshou began to pull her toward the house's hallway.

"I have much to show you." Those were the last words Kuroka heard from her sister before the girl, along with Lilith, disappeared down the hallway. She heard a door open and close several seconds later, alerting her that the two had retreated into Naruto's room.

"...That was odd." Kuroka nodded at Ophis' words. Once again, her expectations had been swept away in the face of reality. She had expected violence at the sight of the three entering through the portal, but instead, she had her little sister time stolen away from her.

She couldn't help but huff at the thought. Just when she was beginning to really enjoy her alone time with Koneko, something else had to come swoop down and snatch her away. She couldn't even blame Naruto this time. The blond's soft snores alerted her to how unwilling he was to participate in any of this. Scanning over the boy now, she could see how exhausted he was. That was until Ophis crawling onto the same couch Naruto occupied.

"What are you doing?" Despite everything in her telling her not to, Kuroka couldn't help but voice the question when she saw the dragon set herself upon the boy's legs. Her unwillingness became cemented in her gut when Ophis turned an agitated eye over to her.

"I am talking to Naruto." She stated before moving her eyes back to Naruto. Once more, the need to question sprung up within the Nekoshou but this time she decided to wisely keep her mouth close. The look that the god sent her told her that was for the best.

"You could talk to me." Kuroka thought to herself but dared not say it out loud. The dragon had begun talking, leaving the woman to silently look on. A soft sigh slipped past her lips before she climbed back onto her previously occupied chair.

If no one was going to talk with her, she would at least listen.

* * *

He awoke to the soft pounding of music in the background, a light voice in the foreground and a numbness in his legs. He kept his eyes as the memories of his past 24 hours played through his mind. The thought of never opening his eyes was a prominent one.

"Maybe I'll go back to sleep." He thought to himself. He decided to test out his theory and kept his eyes close. He tried, he really did try, to drown out the pounding music and the voices yet he couldn't manage it. It pained him to do it but his eyes eventually pulled open, exposing him to the occupants of the room.

"What are you doing on my legs?" He noted how groggy his voice sounded and wondered how long he had been asleep. He hadn't planned on sleeping in the first, especially a sleep deep enough that Ophis could sit on top of his legs.

"I was talking." Naruto could only blink at the girl's response before letting out a sigh. His head dropped down onto the couch once again while his eyes came to a close.

"It's rather rude of you not to greet your guest." The ninja would have leaped up from the couch if it wasn't for the dragon sat on top of half of his body. Instead, his upper body shot upward, displacing the dragon onto the cushion next to him. He didn't pay that much mind. His attention was focused on the woman sat in his living room's chair.

"Natur-"

"Ah, ah, ah." The woman wagged her finger at him. The warmth of her voice was off balance by the condescending tone she used. To the blond, it felt as if he was a child getting reprimanded by his mother.

"Mother. Call me mother." Ophis let loose a loud scoff at this, drawing the woman's attention over to the dragon.

"Do you have something to say?" Once again, despite the sweetness in her voice, Naruto could sense nothing but malcontent within her voice. Her words begged for someone to act against her so she could smite them. Any person with a limited understanding of social cues would have been able to pick up on this

Ophis was not one of those people.

"You are disgusting. The years haven't changed that."

"And you have changed?" Gaea asked with a raised eyebrow. "Do you believe you have since you now gallop around in the form of a child?"

"Better this than that horr-"

"Why are you in my house?" He had heard enough. He knew that allowing the two beings to speak would result in him sitting through what was the equal of two children fighting with one another.

She turned to face him with a smile. That smile sent shivers down his spine. It didn't speak bad intentions for him yet it didn't comfort him in any way.

"I came to congratulate you." She spoke while rising up to her feet. The movement made Naruto take notice that the woman had forgone wearing clothes … again.

"I had expected you to take care of Hades. I didn't expect you to kill the boy and take his weapon."

"I didn't mean to take the stupid scythe." Naruto mumbled to himself before clapping his hands together. In a puff of smoke, the scythe appeared in the air above of his. He reached up and snatched it before giving it the evil eye as he leaned back into the couch.

"No matter how much you try, it isn't going to go away. Death can be a bit clingy." She laughed at her words while crossing the distance between the two. The blond kept his eyes locked with her, even when she settled in front of him. A simple eye level glance would offer him a view that many gods and goddesses would love to have. "Once she likes you, she's not going away. I'm surprised you haven't noticed."

"Noticed what?" Naruto sat back upward at her words. The woman's smile spelled nothing but disaster for him as she stared down at him.

"Take a look at that little mark on your hand." His eyes widened for a brief moment before darting over to the palm of his right hand. The scythe rolled off of his lap onto the floor while he stared at the new addition on his skin.

The faint outline of the sun given to him by Hagoromo was still in place. That he was thankful for. He wouldn't know what to do with himself if he didn't have the sage's power, especially with the chaos surrounding him. What he wasn't happy about was the faded scythe symbol that sat diagonally in the sun symbol.

"What…" The blond mumbled while moving his face closer to his hand. Gaea watched, barely managing to contain her laughter, while the boy examined his hand. She saw him go through several visible stages of emotion, each one more amusing than the last. First, he was incredulous. It was so strong in the blond, so much so that he was willing to attempt to shake his head in the hopes that the mark would disappear. When that didn't work, he turned to disbelief. Disbelief turned into anger which involved the blond attempting to furiously wipe away the mark with his free hand. When that didn't work, his anger turned into grief. She had to stop herself from reaching down and holding him with the way his face dropped. Finally, he settled onto acceptance. Grim acceptance but acceptance nonetheless.

"What is this?" Gaea cooed out at his languid tone before attempting to place herself onto his lip. Her attempt ended with her seated on the arm of the couch while clutching at her sore midsection. The blond wasn't having any of that at the moment.

"That's the mark of death." The primordial said after failing to find any sort of sympathy from Naruto. The look the boy sent her told her she would need to do a bit more explaining or more than her midsection would be hurting.

"I thought grumpy Osiris and his son explained thi-"

"How do you know they visited me?"

"Anyway, death isn't a simple scythe." Gaea ignored the boy's questioning, earning her a glare from him. She swept it away with a slow wave of her hand before continuing to speak.

"She's a bit more complicated than that. She's older than me and so much more stubborn. That mark means she's in you now. In to stay, I'm guessing."

"I don't want her to stay." The blond responded in disgust while staring at the mark. The last thing he needed was another person to deal with on a daily basis.

"Oh, she's staying. Until you die, of course. Which is pretty odd, considering the fact that she is Death itself. You would think she would enjoy that." Naruto shook his head at her words. This wasn't what he needed to hear after a nap.

This wasn't at all what he needed.

"Father." Speaking of things he didn't need at the moment, that single word nearly managed to send Naruto back to sleep. He instead managed to power through the feeling and turned toward the sound of the voice. The sight of Lilith standing next to his girlfriend was something he neither expected or wanted.

He offered up a wave in return, finding it too difficult to reply with his words. After all the hectic things that had been sprung upon the Nekoshou at random, one would think he would have nothing to worry about. Yet, even he knew that Lilith was a whole other level of craziness. The fact that the girl was dead set on referring to him as her father only made things more difficult.

"Who is this woman?" Lilith asked while moving her focus to Gaea. The two women locked eyes for a brief moment before the young dragon looked over at her 'father'. "Is she bothering you? Do you need me to remove her?"

"Hah." The goddess let loose a scoff while waving her hand at the girl. "That's adorable. You think you can remove me. I'll stay for as lo-"

The goddess' words came to an abrupt closure due to the presence of Lilith's fist in her chest. The young dragon was no longer stood by the side of the Nekoshou. Instead, she stood on the lap of her supposed father. The blond had the perfect view of Lilith ripping her hand out of the new cavity in the woman's chest, spilling chunks dirt and grass onto the couch. She threw the handful of dirt back into the wide-eyed woman's, her face a stone mask during it all. Her eyes filled with the venom her words would exude.

"If Father wills it, I will remove you far beyond the boundaries of this house. I will remove you from existence."

As Lilith and Gaea locked eyes, a weight fell upon his shoulders. He wanted to tear his hair out but the will to do so was lost upon him. Staring at the two supernatural beings, a voice spoke out to him. The voice, one he had been ignoring since his arrival in the world, begged for him to sit back. And for once, he decided to listen. So, with a sense of pleasant resignation and Lilith's feet planted in his lap, Naruto leaned back into the cushions of his couch and allowed the scene to evolve.

"You're bold." Gaea said while the new hole in her chest began to close up. The skin of her face moved in on itself, swallowing the specks of dirt Lilith had thrown onto her, before settling back into a smile.

"I am a simple defendant of my father." Lilith responded, causing the older being to laugh while rising up from her seat on the couch.

"A defendant that I do not have the time to deal with." Gaea let loose a sigh while cutting her eyes over to Naruto. The lines of her lips curved upward at his steady gaze. "You have other issues to deal with. I'll return."

The goddess shot the blond a quick wink before her body sunk into the wooden floorboards of her home. Within a matter of seconds, she was out of sight, leaving Naruto alone with the tenants of his home.

"I do not like that woman." Lilith stated out loud, earning a nod of agreement from Kuroka, Ophis and Koneko. Naruto was the only one who sat unmoving, his head leaned deep into the cushion of his couch while his eyes remained shut.

Silence - sweet and all-encompassing swept over the room. He loved it, though it was bittersweet in its nature. Sweet in the peace that came along with it. Bitter because he knew it would come to a crashing end.

It always did.

"Are you alright, Father?"

His eyes drifted open to take in the sight of Lilith's face above his own. At the sight of her chocolate-colored eyes filled with concern - concern for the man she considered a father in all his light - his lips lifted. His eyes became bright while his hand raised up to rest on the girl's head.

"I'm fine. Just a bit tired." The slight sparkle in her eyes made the action a bit more bearable.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

At least, that's what his fantasies told him. Reality decided to come smack him across the face when a tap on his shoulder grabbed his attention. A quick turn of his head brought him face to face with his girlfriend.

"You're a father now, eh?"

His mouth opened in an instant to explain himself - to somehow mitigate the chaos of the situation - but he stopped himself. The hint of amusement hit his ears. His eyes flew over Koneko's face, searching for any confusion, anger, disappointment and he found none. Nothing of that sort. Only a pair of curved lips and a raised eyebrow greeted him. Before he could question - he really wanted to question - Koneko surged forward to press her lips against his own. The kiss was short but it told the blond nearly everything he wanted, and needed, to know.

"Lilith told me what happened, I put together the rest. Talk later." She whispered to him before landing another swift kiss on his cheek.

"I've been with Aunt Koneko since we've arrived." Lilith's words brought his attention back to her. "She's taught me about so much, including rap."

"Rap?"

He knew of his girlfriend's obsession with the genre of music. He didn't know how the girl managed to push it on another person so soon. How long had he been asleep?

"Yes, rap. Ever-"

Her words came to a quick end when a knock echoed through the room. The room's collective attention moved toward the door at the sound. Before Naruto could move to stand up and answer it, Lilith pressed him down onto the couch.

"I will answer it, Father." She jumped off the couch and then walked over to the door. Her face was a mask of calm as she reached up and pulled open the door.

"Hel-

"Are you here to see mother or father?"

Out of all the greetings she expected, that hadn't been one of them. She was unaware of anyone in the house having had a child.

"Who is your mommy and daddy?" She said while bending down toward the young girl. As she drew closer, she had to admit to herself the similarities she saw in the girl and the dragon god, Ophis. It was odd.

"My father is Naruto Uzumaki and my mother is Ophis. Now, why are you here?"

She tried to respond. She did. Yet, the pure shock of the statement made her freeze. She tried to move. It took several seconds of strain but she managed it.

"Oh dear." That wasn't her proudest moment. She was used to being calm in times of turbulence but this was too much for her to handle with grace.

"You have wasted my time. Leave." That was the last she heard from the girl before the door was slammed in her face. She blinked once at the rude gesture. This was not going to the way she expected this to go.

She came here with a purpose, though. And that purpose beckoned her to reach out to rap on the door again. Before she could hit the second knock, the door swung open again, revealing the person she came to see.

"Naruto!" She beamed out.

"Gabriel." His response was much more sedated. His wild hair and narrowed eyes made it look as if he had just stumbled out of the bed.

"Do you mind if I come in?" He threw a hesitant glance back over his shoulder into his home before meeting her eyes.

"Sure." He slurred out before stepping outside. She flashed him yet another smile while moving inside of the house. That smile met a swift end when four set of eyes focused in on her.

"Ah, hello." The angel offered up a wave to the four women. She received two nods, one wave, and a single icy glare. She figured that was the best response she was going to get while Naruto guided her over to the sitting area.

"You can sit where I was." The boy's offer was greeted with a rapid shaking of her head while she held her hands up.

"No, no, no. I need to be standing for this." The angel said before sucking in a deep breath. Her eyes closed for a brief moment as the breath left her in one steady flow. They reopened, revealing the shining blue gems of her irises, as she directed her attention on Naruto.

"Naruto … I believe you are the Will of my Father."

* * *

 _ **AN: Yet another ridiculous chapter is gone. Things just keep getting more and more extreme for poor Naruto. This is only the beginning. Expect much more chaos for the boy as we sprint toward the finish line.**_

 _ **I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Review or PM me with any questions, concerns, comments, suggestions, etc!**_

 _ **Thank you to everyone who has continued to make this story what it is. Because of you all, this fic is now within the top 10 most favorited, followed and reviewed across ALL of Naruto's fanfiction. Add that on top of it being #2 in terms of favorites and follows for Naruto/DxD crossovers, I am honestly at a lost for words. You all have pushed this shoddy ship to such a high position. I thank every single person who has taken the time to read the fic. I greatly appreciate it all :D**_

 _ **I hope you all a great rest of the day.**_


	37. Chapter 37

" _I need a vacation_."

The thought was a simple impulse, a fantastically whimsical idea born out of his current misfortune, yet it stuck with him. It had landed and dug its trench in him. And with every word spoken by the angel, it became a little less than a thought and little more of a necessity.

" _Just a week or two. I can have Kuroka man the shop along with a couple of clone. Koneko can come and Ophis…_ "

He sent a glance over toward the dragon. His heart nearly leapt out of his throat when their eyes met. She had been staring at him. He had no idea for how long but she had been staring. His eyes met hers for a brief moment before he tore them away.

" _God, she looked like she was reading my mind_."

The thought that the dragon had the ability to do anything involving his inner thoughts was terrifying. He pushed the idea from the foreground of his mind with a quick shake of his head.

" _I could maybe convince her to stay with a clone._ "

Maybe was a strong word in this case. The god could sense the difference between himself and his clones and whatever that difference may be, she did not like it. A clone would only be able to satisfy her for so long. She would grow tired and agitated of its presence and the lack of his.

An agitated Ophis was not what he wanted to deal with.

A sigh slipped out of his lips. This is what he had been lowered to. Planning his vacation around an easily agitated God. He reasoned that he shouldn't feel too bad about it. She was a God, after all. Even in her weakened state, she was still a god.

And he was just a simple guy.

"Naruto?" The call of his name snapped him out of his inner monologue. His eyes widened in attention while he turned his head toward the sound. When his eyes met with the angels green one's, their previous conversation came rushing back to the forefront of his mind.

"Oh I'm sorry. Just a lot to take in."

There was a bit of truth in his rushed words. What the woman had started off with was an overwhelming idea. So overwhelming that he had stopped listening halfway through the explanation. His excuse seemed to appease the angel as she leaned back into her seat with a placid smile on her lips.

"I understand that it can be overwhelming but do realize that my father was the God. You may not understand his actions but know that his will his ultimate and good."

"What is the difference between your dad and Ophis? She's a god, y'know?" Kuroka chimed in. Naruto watched as the smile on Gabriel's face shifted into a frown. The angel turned to shoot the dragon a glare, or at least her best attempt at one. The expression didn't look quite right on her cherubic face. The look didn't last for too long before fading away when she turned to address Kuroka.

"My father was perfect. He was being of unlimited will, strength and power."

"That would explain why he is dead now."

If looks could, Naruto was sure that Koneko would be dead in his lap. The Nekoshou's comment hadn't amused the angel one bit.

"My father is not dead." Gabriel said in response while glaring at the girl. Koneko didn't seem the least bit bothered by look sent her way, prompting the angel to shift her focus onto Naruto. Her green eyes seemed to shine in the ambient light of the room as she began to speak again, her tone a lot less agitated than before.

"He is alive. His spirit lives on in you."

Silence filled the room after her statement. Every eye in the room was aimed at the angel. Her face shone with sincerity while she stared at the blond. Gradually the attention in the room shifted over to Naruto. His drooped eyes and the dark lines of his face seemed to belay nothing but his exhaustion.

"No."

"Wha-"

"I said no. I'm sorry but whatever you're thinking isn't true."

He was a lot of things. He was a shinobi, he was a boyfriend, he was a shopkeeper and apparently a father. But he was not God. He had adamantly fighting against being called a god, so he would be damned if people started to thinking of him as THE God.

"But I know it is." The angel pleaded as she leaned toward him. "I can feel his grace within you. This is no mistake. His rebirth will lead the world to peace and salvation! It was prophesied!"

Prophecy. He just couldn't escape them, could he? All the way in another dimension and that word still followed him like the plague.

"In the bible, it is said that my father will return to the mortal plane! Revelation 21 verse 4, 'He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.'"

With each word spoke by the angel, the shaking of Naruto's head grew stronger. There was no amount of scripture Gabriel could throw at him to convince him of what she was saying.

"Your defeat of Hades! Isaiah 25 verse 8, 'He will swallow up death in victory; the Lord God will wipe away tear from off all faces.'"

"No."

"Daniel 2 verse 21, 'It is He who changed the time and the epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise men and knowledge to men of understanding.'"

"That one doesn't even fit."

"Job 19 verse 25, 'For I know that my redeemer lives, and at last he will be upon the earth.' I know, my Lord. I throw myself down at your feet."

The angel punctuated her words by throwing herself down onto the boy's floor. She met eyes with him for an instant before the crown of her head kissed the hardwood floor.

"I celebrate your return, father. Praise be thy name! Praise be thy name! Praise by thy na-"

The woman's chanting was interrupted by several loud knocks. At the sound, Naruto shot up from his seat, displacing Koneko on the seat next to him.

Any break from Gabriel was a welcome one at the moment. He was at the door in an instant. He didn't bother looking through the peephole before swinging the door open.

"We have come to avenge the death of Master Ha-"

The three women standing at his doorstep didn't get the chance to finish their shared statement before the door was slammed in their face. The remainder of the words died in their mouths at the gesture. Crammed together on the top stair to the home, they exchanged looks of disbelief between one another.

"He is bold."

"Ignorant is more like it."

"Do we knock again?"

"I say we charge in and take back what he has stolen."

"He is dangerous. Charging in could prove to be foolish."

On the other side of the door Naruto stood twitching. The three women watched with concern while he attempted to take in a deep breath. The action looked far more laborious than it was meant to be to the girls as it left the blond shaking.

"Who are those women?"

His eyes cut a sharp toward the sole angel in the room. The boy's gaze left her squirming in her seat. She was forced to take in several breaths to steel herself before she began to speak.

"I didn't get the best look at them-" That had not been the right thing to say. She felt an actual pressure land on her shoulders as the words left her mouth. It reminded him so much of her time beneath her father that she found herself naturally rushing to appease his irritation.

"B-But I believe they are Furies, primordial spirits of vengeance and servants of Hades."

He sighed. He wasn't surprised. This was the crux of every one of his victory. You defeat one opponent and two more stood waiting to avenge that defeat. That had been the law of the land back in the Elemental Nations and he had no doubt that it was no different here. The fact that he had killed a God only made things worse.

"I wouldn't want to be you in a couple of days." Anubis' words echoed in his head. He sucked in a deep breath at the thought. Those words never seemed clear until now. Standing with his back against his door, debating on whether to be angry, scared or just plain old tired, he definitely didn't want to be him.

"How important are those three?"

"Wha-"

"How much would me kicking their ass into dust affect this world?" His crass language brought a blush to her face but got the message across nonetheless.

"Not very much. They've grown obsolete in the world. They serve as mere tormentors for Hades than anything else nowadays."

"You heard that, Kurama?"

" **Yeah. Good enough for you?** "

"Banging on my door was good enough for me."

With those words, Naruto allowed the golden strength of the Sage of Six Paths to wash over him. His form became ablaze with the translucent chakra, filling the room with its bright yellow light. As he turned to confront the Furies, Gabriel stood to stare. Her eyes shined with the same light of Naruto's cloak while the blond began to pull the door ajar.

"Your glory has never been brighter, father. I see it now. I see it."

Her words were followed by Naruto's disappearance along that of the Furies. The five women, one angel, two dragons and two Nekoshou, could only stare at the gaping door that the blond had flashed out of.

"The Lord has returned to earth."

* * *

He had needed this so badly.

The Furies left the grasp of his golden fingers and rocketed down toward earth. Their bodies cut through the air, twisting and stumbling as they attempted to regain some sort of control, before crashing into the ground below. They hit the ground and traveled in a rolling heap of limbs, wings, and hair.

A slow breath left his lips. A small smile began to stretch across his lips while he floated. He didn't know if it was the satisfaction of sending the three hag-like creatures tumbling across the ground or the Sage's chakra but right now he felt happy.

The trio of women did not speak as they rose from the ground. For creatures as old as they were, words were of no use in the heat of combat.

The first one launched herself up into the air with a single flap of her wings. The dual mass of silver feathers brought her within striking distance of the boy.

She struck out with her fist. The clawed appendage soared toward his face, bending and breaking the air around it as it moved.

Her attack would not land. His hands closed around her wrist, stopping her in place. He took a moment to enjoy the shocked look on her face before he yanked on her arm. The rest of her body followed along with the pull, sending her headfirst at Naruto. A smile stood on his head as he sent his head launching forward. His head met hers with a tremendous impact that left the Fury in a spiraling descent.

His next attacker wasn't so straightforward. He became aware of her nature when the tips of her claws raked against his back. He spun around and struck out with his fist. He made contact but not much progress. The fist seemed to barely faze the woman if the calm expression on her face was anything to go by.

"Death awaits you, child."

His eyes were forced open when two limbs crashed around his midsection. He looked down to see a pair of black wings pinning his arms against the side. The sudden lurch in his stomach and the blurring landscape alerted him that the forces keeping him afloat began to lose the battle against gravity.

The fury kept her tight hold on him while she forced her body to spin. Naruto was forced to spin with her as the two fell toward the earth. She could feel the boy struggling in her grip. The closer they grew to the earth, the more he struggled. Every failed attempt to break free from her grip was met with failure.

Before the duo could hit the ground, the Fury released her hold on the boy and allowed her wings to flair out behind him, lifting her high into the air and allowing her to avoid crashing into the ground.

Her opponent wasn't as lucky. His descent into the ground wasn't a pleasant one. He slammed head first, breaking the ground on impact while throwing up a cloud of smoke. His attacker flew high into the air where she was joined by her fellow Furies while the smoke dispersed from beneath them.

"Be weary. He is alive and well, sister."

"You're damn right, I am."

The shout was followed by a deafening crack that echoed through the clearing. A trio of eyes tore through the clearing in an attempt to find its source.

Their discovery would come just a little too late.

A black blur slammed into the middle of the Furies. The woman's body was forced upward, climbing through the air at a ridiculous pace. The remaining Furies could do nothing but turn and watch while their sister flew farther out of reach. The shock of watching one of their sisters be whisked away was nothing compared to the feeling of watching the creature began to disintegrate. Despite the distance between them, the two sisters could see the Fury's body breaking apart.

"What is happening to her?" One of the remaining Furies asked while turning to look at her sister. She managed to catch a small glance of her confused counterpart before the heel of a golden shoe slammed into the crown of her head. The primordial was sent careening down toward the ground, leaving the remaining airborne fury face to face with Naruto.

She was the first to strike. Unlike her sister, she didn't bother with a physical attack. She instead propelled herself backward with a flap of her wings while holding her hands out in front of her. A dark substance boiled around her finger for a single moment before it leaped from her fingers. The darkness cut through the air with a deafening roar toward Naruto.

The beam managed to cross the distance between the duo in an instant. It looked to be on its way to piercing the boy's midsection … before one of his truth-seeking balls interjected itself in its way. The beam slammed and was promptly absorbed into the black orb, leaving behind a shocked Fury.

"How?" The creature questioned while looking at the blond. Those would be her last word as Naruto decided then to send one of his orbs toward the woman. She attempted to dodge the sphere but it slammed into her forehead before she could get away. Her head offered little resistance against the power of the attack, it instantly disintegrating into nothing. Her body soon followed the disappearance of the head under the effects of the orb. After only a moment after impact, another fury had been wiped from existence.

" **You're being pretty vicious today**." Kurama's words played through his head while the truth-seeking ball floated back toward him.

"I've had a pretty long day." That had been an understatement. His hour long nap hadn't been enough to recharge him from his misadventures in the dimensional gap. With Gaea, Lilith and now the Furies' sudden intrusion into his life, he had little to not patience in taking it easy on anyone.

"You will fall, boy." The remaining Fury hissed from below him. He took a glance down at the ground to see the woman slowly flying upward toward him. His kick had caved her skull inward yet whatever mythical energy she contained was fixing that damage.

"Zeus knows of you and the treachery of his children. He will throw down the same might he used to slay his father. The gods of this world will remove your blighted existence." The woman screeched out at him before giving a massive flap of her wings. The action propelled her upward toward the blond at breakneck speeds. Her claws were aimed at his neck as she closed in on his position.

Her attack would never reach. As she flew at him, one of the orbs shifted into the shape of a stave. The weapon floated by his head for a brief moment before shooting down toward the Fury.

At the speed the weapon was traveling, she had no hope in dodging it. The black stave slammed into her forehead before she was able to see it take off. Before the weapon began to eat away at her existence, she was able to catch a brief glance at Naruto. With him floating high in the air above her, his body shining while enveloped in the golden, fiery energy, the goddess found it difficult to deny his godliness. That grim acceptance was her last thought before the destructive nature of the truth-seeking ball wiped her from existence.

" **The problems just keep building up, don't they**?"

"Yeah, they do."

He allowed himself only a single moment of rest before taking off toward his house. Hopefully, the angel wouldn't still be there. He didn't think he could deal with her obsessive worshipping of him. As he flew, a single thought flew through his head.

"I really need a vacation."

* * *

He had awoken the next morning feeling rejuvenated. Gabriel hasn't been at his house when he returned from his fight with the Furies, allowing him to get some rest. Though, the woman's message of a swift return hadn't been reassuring. He didn't allow that to stop him from getting a full night's rest.

Waking up to his own bed next to his girlfriend had been a pleasant experience. Opening the door to his bedroom to see Lilith standing there wasn't as pleasant. He had to spend ten minutes to explain to her that standing guard all night wasn't necessary. With the ever-present blank look in her eyes, he wasn't quite sure she had received his message.

Even now, her hawk-like stare could be felt on the back of his head. When she had heard that her father was venturing into the forest alone for his purification routine, she had decided to tag along. Now surrounded, by nothing more than trees, the clone had little else to occupy herself other than the mediating blond.

" _Just ignore it. You've dealt with worse_." Being stared at was nothing compared to balancing on a thin slab of stone that sat on top if a spike that jutted a hundred feet into the air out of a lake. He gave himself a quick reminder of such before he allowed his complete focus to shift onto his meditation.

Within moments, he could feel the flow of nature's energy connect with his own. The harsh taint associated with it was a mere afterthought to him. With a shallow breath, he allowed it to flow into his own chakra system to begin purifying it.

Silence reigned over the small clearing for several minutes as the boy meditated. At first, Lilith was the singular witness to her father, a fact that brought her much joy. That joy was shattered by the soft chirp of distant birds. Their chirping grew louder as time dragged on; The voices of others animals joined them along the way. The first creature to pop into the dragon's sight was one covered in fur. It stopped at the edge of the clear, rising up onto its high legs to observe the stationary blond. It's black eyes stayed set for several seconds before it began sprinting toward him. The creature managed to get halfway to the blond before a snake rose up from the ground and swallowed it whole.

"Leave the animals alone." Naruto's words brought a frown to her face. The creature's mad sprint toward her father had alarmed her. She figured it meant him harm. And any creature that meant her father harm should die. Though, she would calm that urge for the moment at her father's behest.

More animals came flooding out of the forest and they all flocked toward Naruto. It pained the dragon to watch the creatures perch themselves along his body. When an odd looking bird settled itself on his shoulders, it's razor sharp claws inches away from his throat, she nearly ran to the boy herself. Only the blond's words managed to keep her grounded.

While Lilith attempting to curb the temptation of exterminating every creature that dared laid their filthy paws on her father, Naruto was in a different world, one much different than the one the dragon was experiencing. While Lilith sat in turmoil, the blond laid unbothered in peace. It was the first real peace he had been able to experience in the past 48 hours. It was a peace filled with silence, a silence that filled the boy with comfort.

The soft hum of natural energy was the only thing that served as a connection to the outside world yet even that faded into the background. The ground beneath split apart and faded into nothingness yet he did not fall. He sat floating, surrounded by nothing, hearing nothing, seeing nothing and feeling nothing.

"You're really good at this meditation thing."

The first assault on his hearing since he reached his meditative state came from right in front of him in the form of a jovial voice, a voice that sounded nothing like Lilith's. He wanted so badly to believe it didn't exist but he knew he could not avoid reality. With great reluctance, the blond allowed his eyes to creak open.

"Welcome to Nirvana."

The speaker sat cross-legged in the seemingly infinite space. His brown skin was a new sight to Naruto. He hadn't encountered many people with that shade of skin. Half of his upper body sat uncovered while the other half laid beneath an orange robe. An array of pink roses surrounded the man's hair that sat in a black bun.

"Have a seat, young dove." The man patted the space next to him. Naruto could do nothing but stare at the stranger. The man returned the stare with no hesitation, his face stuck in a large smile while his hand repeated the patting movement.

" **This is odd**." Naruto couldn't help but agree with his partner's assessment. Things grew even odder for the boy when the man erupted into a fit of laughter.

"Your partner is right. I was just messing with you a bit." The man said before pushing himself up to his feet. Naruto watched him straighten out his cloak, making sure the legs of his pants covered the entirety of his lower body, before making his way toward him. The lack of an actual surface to walk on didn't stop him as he crossed the distance between them in a few short steps. He stopped about arm's length away from Naruto, shooting the confused boy a quick smile before thrusting his arm out.

"The name is Siddhartha Gautama. Most people call me Buddha, though."

Buddha. The enlightened one. The leader of the Buddhist religion. One of the original sages and leaders of the age of meditation.

More importantly to Naruto, he was another God.

"Hello." He managed to force out with some level of enthusiasm while grasping the man's hand. The two stood shaking hands for several moments before they separated.

"Would you believe me if I told you that I didn't want anything from you?" The Buddha asked while raising an eyebrow. The look he received in return spoke of a man who was nowhere near ready to trust a stranger.

"I'll take that as a no." He let loose a small laugh while taking a step away from Naruto. In one smooth movement, he jumped into the air and tucked his feet beneath. Instead of gravity bringing him back down, the man stayed floating in his signature lotus position.

"Join me."

At this point, what did he have to lose? That was his thought as he took his own step backwards before attempting to replicate the god's actions. Surprisingly, he didn't end up flat on his face. Gravity decided to show him the same mercy it showed Siddhartha, allowing him to stay afloat. He quickly adjusted himself into a comfortable position before shifting his full attention onto the man in front of him.

"So, you're a god now?"

He groaned. He couldn't help himself. He was so tired of that word. God. It haunted him like a ghost. No matter where he went, it hung in the air. Even during the most peaceful moments of his life, his meditation cycles, it still assaulted him.

"Ah, that look." Buddha's words raised the blond slightly out of his internal crisis. "I know it well."

"What do you mean by that?" He couldn't help but voice the question. The god's words implied a sense of empathy … or it could be a hint that he had another stalker on his hands.

He was hoping for the former.

"Well, to be completely honest with you, I'm not a God either. I'm just a guy who starved himself for a while then went and sat under a tree."

That had been unexpected. Against his own will, he felt his jaw loosen a bit at the man's words. Disbelief ran rampant through his head while Siddhartha sat in front of him.

"That makes no sense." He couldn't help but he'll the words. "You're Buddha. You have a whole religion based off of you!"

"Buddhism is less of a religion and more of a way of life." The robed man corrected with a wave of his hand. Naruto wanted to reach out and slap the hand away but Siddhartha put it away before he could.

"Plus, just like you, I didn't ask for any of this. I asked for the exact opposite." The man paused to groan.

"I told them! I told them! Don't revere me as a god. I'm a man just like the rest of you. I was dying! You don't get any more human than that!" The Buddha stopped to release a pause. The serene look on his face had been wiped away and a mask of defeat had taken its place. "I guess it was sort of my fault for expecting anything different. You get a couple hundred thousand people to listen to every word you say and you should probably expect them to treat you like a God after you die, right?"

The defeat on the man's face was matched only by the disbelief on Naruto's. He couldn't be hearing this right? This guy accidentally started a religion? How ridiculous was that?

" **You're one to talk**." Naruto promptly pushed Kurama's words to the side while Siddhartha began to speak.

"What I'm getting at is that I get your struggle." The man clapped his hands together. "I died expecting to experience true peace for the first time and instead I get sucked into this mess called godhood. It's been nothing but chaos for the past two millenniums."

"So, you're not a god?" Naruto couldn't help but question. The curious side of him demanded an answer after hearing the man's story.

"I don't know." The Buddha's shrug was met with a defeated head drop from the blond.

"After a couple of thousand of years, I'm not sure what I am. A human? A ghost? A god? A force of nature? Who knows? I don't."

This conversation had taken the turn from interesting to frustrating for Naruto. Just as soon as he thought he found a reliable source for answers and sensibility, his hopes had been dashed.

"What point are you trying to make?" Naruto blurted out as his frustration took hold of him.

"The point I'm trying to make is that no matter how hard you try, people are going to believe what they want to believe. One of the keys to my teachings was to not revere me as a god. Instead, they built statues of me, a lot more fat than I actually am, and use my words as scripture. Totally not a god!"

" **This guy sounds pretty bitter for reaching Nirvana**." Naruto couldn't help but agree with his partner's observation. He had expected a lot more serenity and a little less frustration for the Buddha.

"You tell people to do one thing and they go do the other. There's no winning. My advice would be to embrace it and make the best out of it."

"But I-"

"Ah!" Siddhartha waved his hand across his face, silencing the blond. Quite literally, Naruto found his lips sealed together, leaving him completely mute.

"I've interrupted my nirvana enough with you. Remember my words: Just as a snake shed its skin, we must shed our past and begin anew. I think it was something like that?" The man looked down briefly at his lap before waving away his own question. He raised his head to shoot his sagacious counterpart a smile before poking the blond in the forehead.

Just as suddenly as he appeared in Nirvana, he was out. His eyes shot open, revealing the midday glow surrounding the forest clearing and the expectant eyes of Lilith inches away from his own. He stared into those wide, brown eyes for several moments without saying a single word. They stared back, an unhidden intensity present at their surfaces.

"You've awakened, father."

He still felt amazement at how a dead voice like Lilith's could convey emotion. Her words mimicked that of a spoiled child to a frightening degree. He shook his head free of such thoughts before opening his mouth to speak.

"I am. I sat for a bit longer than expected." He let loose a grunt while standing up to his feet. While the conversation with the Buddha felt like it lasted for less than five minutes, time had advanced far past that. The sun hung high above him, heating the cool morning air into a warm, humid haze.

"I have to go open up the shop." The words slipped out of his mouth with little enthusiasm. His newly found passion for his shop seemed more like a burden than anything else in his current mindset.

"Are you sure, father?" The blond looked down at the small dragon at her question. "Do you not need more rest? I don't want you to grow exhausted."

Was he sure? He definitely didn't want to go into work today. He had started the day off refreshed but it was only halfway through and he was already feeling the effects of the day settling upon his shoulders. The dragon's words made him hesitate. Did he really want to work today? Staring down into the clone's mocha eyes, he was pretty sure he found his answer.

"You know what? I think a little more rest sounds like a great idea." A genuine smile spread across his lips while his hand moved to ruffle the dragon's hair. Due to the placement of his hand, he couldn't see the massive grin that popped up on Lilith's face. As soon as the hand left her, the smile was gone, replaced by her usual apathetic mask.

"Let's head home." The dragon gave a prompt nod at his words before reaching out her hand to the boy. Naruto looked down at the outstretched appendage. Hesitation sat at the forefront of his mind as he stared at the child-like fingers of the dragon. Only weeks prior, he wouldn't have even considered the thought of grabbing the girl's hand. But after everything he had been through, the random encounter with gods; his adventure in the dimensional gap; his apparent rising into godhood, holding the girl's hand seemed like an ant hill to his valley of mountains he called problem.

So, with hesitation wiped clear from his mind, he reached out and grasped Lilith's hand. This time he was able to see the bright smile on the girl's face, a smile he couldn't help but match.

" _Embrace and make the best out of it, eh_?"

That didn't sound like such a bad idea anymore.

* * *

 **AN: Another chapter down and another chapter closer to the end. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. As usual, leave me a PM or a review with any questions, concerns, comments, etc. I'll try to respond to as many as I can. Hope you all have a wonderful rest of the day.**

 **Side Note: I've been meaning to do this for a while but I always get distracted. If you're a fan of Naruto crossovers, check out the stories by** Reain **and Trollerbear. Amazingly well-written, compelling and very entertaining! I'll be highlighting more authors in the upcoming author's note so be on the lookout. Peace!**

 **Edit: Had to delete and reupload chapter due to fanfiction breaking temporarily.**


	38. Chapter 38

"Five truth-seeking orb specials! Sweet sauce on the side please, nya!"

How did it come to this? How could he, a descendant of the original devil, be in such a low position in life. He should have been out in the world, fighting those that the world had vaulted as being strong while plotting the death of his grandfather. He should have been adorned in the midnight armor of his sacred gear, unstoppable and immutable.

Instead, he was wearing an apron.

"Vali, truth-seeking or-"

"I heard you the first time, woman."

He hands came down hard on the counter while the words left his mouth in a loud yell. His actions earned him some attention from some of the closer customers. Their gazes ran over his body with earnest yet he could not care less. Their looks were as insignificant as their existence. They never nothing of his life, his struggle and his de-

"You're the devil that Master Candy defeated, freed from hatred and filled with his love."

The sound of a child's voice should be a welcoming thing. It's soft tone and excited nature should have filled him with a feeling of such fondness that even he would not have been able to keep a smile off of his face.

At that moment, he was nothing but disgusted.

His head turned to face the child. His eyes drunk in the sight of a young boy-at least he figured that it was a boy-no older than the age of nine or ten standing inches away from the counter. The remnants of a dessert, one the devil had most likely prepared himself, sat on his face and his beige shirt.

"What did you say?"

The disgust that filled him dripped from his words. Any adult in the vicinity would have reprimand him on the tone of his voice, saying it was much too harsh to use on a budding child. If one of them dared opened their mouth, he would've directed that same voice to them. At that moment, he did not care. After what the boy said, he was far from caring.

"I thought the comics were fake. I never thought I would see you here."

Before the young child could lift his comic to his head, Vali had reached over the counter and snatched it out of his hand. If the boy was bothered by action, the devil would never know as he was too focused flipping through the page's.

"No, no, no, no, no."

He repeated the word over and over again, his inner conscious hoping that it would have some type of power to banish the horrid images he held in his hands. But, no matter how much he willed it, the comic wouldn't disappear.

The frames in front of him depicted an image he could only describe as an overly exaggerated retelling of his encounters with Naruto. In this version, he wasn't Vali Lucifer, descendant of Satan and partner to Albion. Instead, he was Vali-chan, a misguided devil who hid his true emotions under a thin veil of aloofness. Despite the utter ridiculousness of his portrayal, the devil couldn't help but notice the accuracy of the actual events taking place in the comic strip. Everything from their initial battle to his humiliating defeat was on full display with all of their detail. Details no one should of had.

Except for…

Azazel and Odin. His self-proclaimed supernatural set of extraordinary dads. Those two were the only one who would have had the amount of insight to his misfortune needed for the comic to exist. The information hadn't left him willingly. The fallen angel and God had been persistent in their pestering of him for information.

" _Now I know why_."

The two had gotten close. At the time, he hadn't questioned their sudden interest in each other. Now, he wished he would have inquired more. Maybe it would've saved him from this embarrassment.

No. He gave a wild shake of his head. The moment he had stepped into the blond's life he had subjected himself to it. There was no denying that. The feeling had been tame at first, nearly unnoticeable. Now, he could do nothing but face the facts. He had been pulled into Naruto's gravitational field of chaos and there was no escaping it. Neither Odin nor Azazel would be able to help him. Those two bastard were partly the cause of his current misfortune.

"Vali! Desserts please!"

He stifled a groan. Complaining would do him no good. If he wasn't allowed back into the Grigori or the Valhalla until he served his time in this insufferable place. For now he would have to bear it.

It was with that thought that he tightened his apron and began working. The sweet balls weren't going to make themselves. And if he had any hopes of returning to a life that was somewhat normal, he needed to knead.

* * *

The United States of America. The land of the free. The birthplace of opportunity. The house of Uncle Sam.

And, his getaway from his hectic life.

As the sun shone down on his shirtless form, wrapping the entirety of his body in a cocoon of warmth, he knew he had made the right decision. The golden beaches of California, despite the utterly ridiculous amount of people occupying them, was much calmer than Kuoh. The trouble of sneaking into the country was nothing compared to the relaxation he was experiencing.

"This is nice."

"Yeah, it is."

He looked over to his right to see his swimsuit-clad girlfriend staring at him through a pair of black sunglasses. Her shoulder length hair sat back in a messy bun while the front side of her pale body laid against the golden sand.

He thought she looked amazing.

At that moment, he didn't feel like vocalizing his opinion so he did the next best thing. In one smooth motion, he rolled over onto his side while swinging his arm over the girl's body. She was powerless, or not motivated enough, to stop him as he tightened his hold on her, pulling her until they were touching sides.

"It's too hot."

Despite her protests, Koneko didn't make any moves to separate herself from the boy. She did quite the opposite, snuggling deep into his unclothed side. Behind the dark lenses of her sunglasses, her eyes came to a close while a sigh left her lips. That sigh contained a sense of contentment that only Naruto could bring. Without the distractions in Kuoh, she had nothing but time to enjoy this feeling.

"Father."

Her eyes cut upward at the sound the voice. The sight of Lilith clad in polka dot covered black and white swimsuit greeted her. The young dragon held onto a parasol that threw a pool of shade over her body, protecting her from the harsh rays of the Californian sun.

"Do I have your permission to build a castle out of sand? I will be sure to stay in your sights."

Lilith had come with her. She had admittedly forgotten about that considering how quiet the girl tended to be. Despite the power she contained, the girl acted like a docile mouse.

Unless, her father came under threat, of course.

"Sure, sure."

She shouldn't have been so happy to see the smile that appeared on Lilith's face but she couldn't help it. The amount of value and care the young dragon held in Naruto's was adorable beyond belief. It was no different from a child interacting with their parent.

The fact that it wasn't aimed in a romantic or sexual way was a definite benefit.

The dragon gave a small nod before taking a step away from the couple. The girl managed a whole nine other steps away from the two before she settled into the sand and began working on her creation.

"That's the furthest she's been away from me since we rescued her."

The statement sounded ridiculous but Koneko knew that there was validity in her boyfriend's words. Lilith acted like a mixture of a cute little girl who craved the affection of her father and an obsessive bodyguard. The sight of her sat at the foot of the bed had become a routine thing for the two.

"She enjoys her proximity to you."

A couple of weeks ago, she would have at least jumped at the sudden intrusion of a voice. After weeks of interruptions and absolute chaos, she was numb to it all. That was why her reaction to Ophis talking over of their shoulder was a slow and simple turning to face the dragon.

The god stood in a bathing suit similar to the one worn by her clone. Where Lilith's clothed came in the form of a one piece, Ophis' bathing suit appeared as a modest two piece that exposed a sliver of her pale stomach and the entirety of her limbs.

The thing that capped the dragon's outfit off was a hat. It was no ordinary hat. It's brim stretched across the entirety of her body and much more. Where Lilith had her umbrella, Ophis had her massive hat. Both objects provided an excessive amount of coverage from the sun.

"I will go assist her."

Naruto gave a silent nod of acknowledgment to the dragon's words before watching her make her way over to Lilith. The cat-ninja duo watched as the older dragon sat herself down near the uncompleted side of her clone's developing sand castle. The look of shock that appeared on Lilith's face at the sight of her mother brought a small smile to the Nekoshou's face. The subsequent joy that followed that shock only made that smile grow in size.

"They're both sorts of cute in a weird way when they act like that."

Her agreement came in the form of a hum while she moved to push herself closer to Naruto. Despite the increasing heat and accompanying sweat, the blond's touch had never felt more comforting.

"Travel more?"

"Yeah, we should."

With their future vacation plans cemented by five simple words, the two descended into silence. The forefront of their vision was filled with the sight of the two dragons constructing an impressive sand castle while crashing waves sat in the background. The waves were impressive in their own right, growing and growing till they stood several stories tall. But even nature couldn't keep up the momentum of their growth, leading the waves to their eventual death. The echoing noise that accompanied beaches; children playing, adults laughing and general enjoyment, was drowned out by the ambient sound of their own breathing. At that moment, the connection shared between them couldn't have been ruined by anything.

At least, that's what they thought.

"Shark! There's a shark in the water!"

This. Moments exactly like this was why he had a hard time believing God was dead. Moments like this happened to the average person every once in awhile, not every other day like it had been doing for him. It couldn't be some odd and misfortunate coincidence. Someone had to be purposely bringing this hell down on him.

Out of all the people on the beach, their little group of four were the only calm ones. The shared emotion between them all seemed to be annoyance. For a God, her clone, a devil, and a ninja; a shark was not a threat.

It was a simple annoyance.

"I will kill all sharks for ruining all of this."

In the chaos that had consumed the beach, Lilith's impassioned words came off as more amusing than threatening to Naruto as he unwrapped himself from Koneko, an act that the girl didn't enjoy. He pushed himself up to his before giving his limbs a long stretch, filling the air with the loud pop and crack of his joints. He finished his stretch with a soft sigh before bending down and lifting Koneko to her feet.

"Let's not kill the sharks. They were here first."

It was moments like this one that Naruto was grateful for the chaos that this universe had thrown at him. While everyone around him had been consumed in panic, he felt calm. A shark attack was nothing compared to the stress of fighting gods.

"That does give them the right to interrupt our time."

He shook his head at the dragon's words. There would be no convincing. The threat of being eaten alive by a shark wasn't real to the pseudo dragon-god. He couldn't blame her either.

"Well, they're shutting down the beach." His eyes cut over to the approaching police and coastal guards. "We could go back to the hotel for a bit or we cou-"

"Someone help! My daughter is in the water."

He turned his head the moment the sound reached his ears. In retrospect, that was his first mistake. He should have let the matter be.

He would have saved himself a lot of trouble if he did.

At the sight of the panicking mother, he was already on the move. It took him only a second afterward to locate the struggling girl. She sat a hundred feet away in the water. Her flailing arms were the only things of her that could be spotted over the crashing waves.

With his mind so intent on saving the girl, he neglected his initial idea of keeping a low profile. The approaching policemen and guard caught a first-hand sight of him running across the water toward the girl. Of course, the only thing they managed to see was a golden blur skidding across the water. The slapping of his feet against its surface threw up a spray of shimmering mist, filling the air with rainbows.

He came skidding to a stop to the side of the girl in an instant. Without any hesitation, he reached down and dug his arm into the water. His arm wrapped around the writhing waist of the distressed girl before he pulled upward.

"What?"

He pulled again. Just like before, the girl didn't move an inch. Her golden eyes were focused on him, her arms were still waving about and her mouth was still open yet she wouldn't move.

"Wh-"

* * *

He was an idiot.

As she watched the young girl leap out of the water, wrap her arms around Naruto's outstretched arm before descending back into the water, pulling the boy down with her. Koneko managed to spot a glimpse of the golden scales that made up the faux drowning girl's lower half before she disappeared beneath the water's surface with her boyfriend.

"He fell for an obvious trap."

Koneko leaned back and let loose a sigh. The feeling was cathartic in a sense but it couldn't completely quell the frustration of her boyfriend's kidnapping.

"Think before you act."

She couldn't help but shake her head. Ophis was right. A dragon god, one of the most socially inept beings she had ever encountered, had more common sense than her boyfriend. She would've have thought that Naruto would have learned by now with all the chaos he had been through.

"Remind me to…"

She stopped. It was barely past noon so why had it turned so dark so sudden.

She looked over to her right. Ophis didn't seem to be the cause. The dragon stood at her side, her arms folded across her chest while her eyes stared out over the water. With her massive hat and sunglasses, the dragon probably hadn't taken notice of the change in light.

She looked over to her left and quickly discovered the source of the oddity. Lilith was no longer standing next to her. In fact, Lilith could be seen anywhere on the beach.

"This is troublesome."

The Nekoshou thoughts came moments before a roar echoed through the air. The sound seized the girl, freezing her in place. It held her, whispering a soft serenade of the trouble that laid in that roar. She tried to shake her head free but the feeling persisted even as another roar stretched across the beach.

She dared a glance upward. Regret filled her in an instant. The blue skies that the sun had shone through minutes before were gone. What obscured it wasn't a bank of clouds or passing plane like she had hoped. Instead, she managed to catch an eyeful of the underbelly of a massive dragon before she looked away.

She didn't want to believe it. Why would she? The existence of that dragon flying above her head only meant more trouble on top of the foreseeable mess that would come from Naruto's capture.

"Impressive."

Koneko looked over to Ophis to see that the dragon had her head tilted back and was looking at the overhead dragon. From the corner of her eye, she could spot a light twinkle in the god's eye. It was hard to discern, considering Ophis' lack of emotion, but something was there. It was warm, appreciating…

Almost as if she was proud.

Pride outside of herself wasn't something Koneko thought she was ever see coming from the dragon. Now that she had saw it, she was hoping it would go away as soon as possible.

Another screech from the dragon's maw forced the devil's attention. A moment later, her arm came up to shield her eyes as a strong flap of the creature's wind sent the sand around her flying. Ophis remained next to her, unmoving and unperturbed by the shifting sands.

"She's going in."

Koneko peeked out from behind her arm at Ophis' words. True to the dragon's statement, her clone positioned herself toward the water below. Another roar leapt from her mouth, filling the air with palpable anger. The roar echoed through the air as the dragon folded her wings against her side and descended toward the water.

She watched as the creature's massive form fell to the water. It was only when the dragon's head broke through the surface of the water did the Nekoshou realize the possible aftermath of Lilith's entry into the water.

A plume of water shot high into the air as Lilith shot through the water. Splashes of water were sent crashing through the air at the dragon's dive. A particular spray of water threatened to soak the Nekoshou and Ophis. Before the high-powered mist could hit the girls, a massive black snake interjected itself in front of the duo. The mist slammed against the creature, leaving the girls dry.

"Thank you."

Koneko didn't have to look to her side to know that Ophis was the origin behind the black snake. No many other people on this beach could summon such a creature.

"...Should we go after him?"

Before Koneko could reply, the surface of the water was torn apart by a massive pillar of dark energy. The appearance of the pillar brought upon a strong gust that had Ophis hanging on to her hat.

"I think they're good for now."

* * *

He had no idea where they were heading. He only knew that wherever this creature was taking him, it wouldn't take long. His kidnapper was no slouch when it came to speed.

"Not going to try and break free?"

Kurama's voice broke through the screech of rushing water that had filled his ears. A simple shake of his head answered his partner's question before he took a look down at his kidnapper.

"Embrace and make the best out of a situation."

Only a week later and he was finding it hard to embrace the Buddha's words. The golden eyes and sharp row of teeth upon his assailant's face made that task so much more difficult than it had to be. It was hard to embrace the world when half of the forces that rule over it wanted to kill him.

Though, he had a feeling he wasn't being dragged to his eventual death … this time. Maybe it was the fact that the sharp fangs were attached to a girl who looked no older than ten or maybe it was because of Siddhartha's words. Either way, he wasn't particularly panicked about his current situation.

As he expected, his kidnapper and himself reached their destination in a matter of moments after his brief exchange with Kurama. The water obscured his vision to the point where having his eyes open was pointless but he felt the shift in the area around him. No longer was he surrounded by the crushing weight of the water.

Instead, he was freefalling.

The sage's aura came to life around him in an instant without a moment of hesitation. _God_. He was becoming used to it all. The marble floor that laid beneath him wasn't a surprise. The golden statues that lined the open-ceiling room didn't come as a shock either. Not even the massive trident wielding man waving at him from a cerulean throne could shake at him at this point.

"Naruto! You came!"

"I didn't have a choice, ya know."

A month ago, the fear of angering a God would have made him keep that comment locked inside the recesses of his mind. Today though, he was a changed man.

 _Shed your skin and begin anew._

"We can finally finish our conversation."

His feet met the ground without a sound. The golden chakra of the Sage kept his movements muted but announced his presence to the world like a beacon. The lines of his face were hard, cemented in a scowl that contrasted the silliness radiating off of the Greek God.

"We already finished. I said no."

 _A laugh_. That's what his response was. The God laughed in his face. A hearty, chest heaving laugh that managed to fill the room with its sound and amusement.

That laugh pissed him off.

"Our last conversation was rushed. I'm sure if I sat down and explai-"

"No."

That single word stopped the god right in his tracks. He could admit to himself that he took a little too much pleasure in watching the happiness drop from Poseidon's face. Watching the curve of the man's lips shift into a hard, straight line shouldn't have made him that happy. Yet, it did.

"I don't care what crap you gods are trying to do. I don't want any part in it."

A part of him urged him to take into account just where exactly he was. He stood, assumingly, beneath several thousand feet of water, surrounded by a God and his lackeys. The same part urged him to play along, to just give the god what he wanted.

That part was being promptly ignored.

"You can take your plans and shove them up your ass."

Okay, that may have been a bit far. He realized that as the words were leaving his mouth but for the life of him, he couldn't find the willpower to stop talking. By the time he finished speaking, he stood with a stupid grin on his face while Poseidon…

"You are just as stupid as my brother."

The god was not happy. _Not one bit_. The sour expression on his face was a good tip off to this but the harsh tone the man had taken up really tipped Naruto off to the god's mood.

"When presented with the chance to change the order of the world, you refuse like a child."

Naruto became aware of the height difference between himself and the god while the man rose from his throne. It was hard not to when he was eye level with the man's crotch. He craned his neck upward to keep his eye locked with the anger-filled, golden ones of the Earthshaker.

"There's no grief in smiting you." As the words left the god's mouth, the blond raised himself onto the ball's of his feet. He could feel the violent swirl of water coming from behind him, reminding him that he was as deep as he could be in the god's territory. Any chance of him escaping would be gone if he didn't give it his all.

" _Why do I keep getting stuck in these situations?_ "

"I'm sure Hades' scythe would look splendid in my hands."

Without any warning, an explosion of water slammed into the blond's back, pushing him forward toward the god. The god didn't stand by idle, drawing his golden trident into view. The golden tips of the weapon looked deadly in the cerulean-tinted room. Naruto had no doubts that a single thrust by the god would skewer him alive.

He had no plans on letting that happen.

The act of moving was difficult with the oppressing water around him but he didn't need to move to wield his best weapon. As he surged toward Poseidon, one of his truth-seeking balls _flashed toward_ the god. The ball left behind a pocketed streak of burning air as it evaporated its way through the water toward the sea god. The orb slammed into the golden chest plate covering the god's gold, beating heart. Unlike many times before, that heart remained beating. The armor held true against the impact of the orb, sending the god stumbling god while forcing the sphere to rebound off of its golden surface.

"That crippled genius has done it again!" Poseidon roared while recovering his balance. A grin stretched across his lips before he attempted to beat his fist against the armor. The grin disappeared off of his face when his own fist broke through the gold.

"That useless cripp-"

The god's words turned into an unintelligible huff of air when the bottom of Naruto's foot broke through the armor and slammed into his chest. The man was lifted off of his feet before a golden arm forced his back against the ground.

"Boy, you are powerless!"

Despite the water slowing his movement, the next fist that slammed into the god's mouth silenced him. It was hard to talk with a mouth full of blood. Though, just because he couldn't talk didn't mean the god didn't attack. Poseidon proved that point when another surge of water threw the blond across the room.

"This is my domain, Naruto. Any moves you think you're making are only possible because I allow it."

To the blond, the god's words came off as a bit muted with the line of blood dribbling from his mouth and the eroding hole in his armor.

Though, that didn't stop him from realizing the specks of truth littering the god's words. He was in the man's territory, a territory that his opponent could control with a whim.

" _I don't want to deal with this right now_."

It was moments like these that he _really_ did not want to be a god. He wanted to be a regular guy with a guardian angel that could swoop in and rescue him from this situation.

" **I doubt Michael would ever give you a guardian angel**."

The truth stung, especially when it came out of the snarky mouth of his resident fox. He would have sent back a comment of his own, nowhere near as snarky, if it weren't for the giant surging toward him.

"Give me-"

Just like the god would be moments later, the rest of his sentence was swallowed up by a floor-rattling shriek. Poseidon turned his head at the sound of the shriek, just barely managing to catch a glimpse of a set of ethereal purple colored teeth before they tore into his body.

To say the god's death was horrific would be an understatement to the blond. One moment the man had been surging toward him with intent to skewer him and in the next moment, the left side of the man's body was trapped between in the jaw of a massive dragon.

It wasn't very hard for Naruto to identify the dragon as Lilith. Despite how hectic his life had grown it still hadn't gotten to the point where he encountered more than a handful of dragons. The sight of the girl sitting with a scowl in the construct's head only affirmed his train of thought.

He managed to catch only a small glimpse of Lilith's scowl before the dragon construct tore its head away. Unfortunately for Poseidon, who had the misfortune of being stuck in the dragon's jaw at that moment, the action freed him of his left arm, leg and a good chunk of flesh. Golden blood spilled onto the stone floor while the god collapsed onto the ground in a billowing heap of flesh.

With gold dripping down its maw, the dragon pointed its head toward the injured Poseidon while opening its mouth wide. So intense was his pain that the god didn't even notice Lilith's descending form before the remainder of his body was firmly in the dragon's mouth.

Due to the translucent quality of the dragon's skin, Naruto had a front row seat of watching Lilith swallow the god whole-as whole as one could be with half of their body gone-with ease. In the belly of the beast's, the god's suffering seemed to reach an apex if his intense writhing was anything to go by. Naruto watched through the dragon's body while pieces of Poseidon's body disintegrated from view. Before long any trace of the god was gone, erased by the toxic that was Lilith's energy.

" **Father**."

He couldn't help but cringe at that word. It did not sound right coming out of the dragon's mouth. While Lilith's usual voice had grown on him, the gruff and distorted voice she gained in her dragon form had not done the same.

"Are you okay?"

If anyone had been remaining in the room, he mused, they would have found the sight of a towering dragon calling him it's father and questioning his safety completely ridiculous. They would have been right too. He knew any simple, normal person would be justified in thinking just that. And he knew that because of the fact that the thing that bothered him most about his current situation was the girl's voice he was nowhere near nor normal.

"When have you ever been?"

Never. That was the damning answer. From the first breath he took, things had never been normal. He would have laughed at the past version of him who thought he could lead a simple if it wasn't so fresh in his mind.

"It was nice to pretend for a bit."

It was. But, he had grown to realize that the time for pretending was far gone. He was already in a complicated situation and he had no doubts that Poseidon's death would bring him more frustration in the future.

"I'm fine."

His reply to Lilith came accompanied with a grin. Complications were bound to come but when had they Not? He wouldn't let it get him done. Not now and never again.

"Let's go finish our vacation."

* * *

 **AN: Well, there we go. Another chapter in the book. Things continue to grow more ridiculous. Expect more absurdity and enjoy the rest of your nights. Review or PM me with any questions, concerns, comments, etc. Ciao.**


	39. Chapter 39

"You just had to do it again, didn't you?"

"Wasn't my fault."

Before either could respond, a roar of applause from the opposite side of the room drowned the air around them. Both entities looked over toward the sound. The sight of a large crowd of held their attention for a few moments before they looked away.

"My office is filled with angry sea people. Do you know how bad they smell when they're not in the water?"

A small chuckle escaped past his lips at the man's words. A sip from his glass managed to silence any more laughter. The orange, fizzy liquid bubbled and popped in his throat with fervor, pushing him to drink more.

"You've toppled two Olympians. The Greeks are demanding answers. Can you at least slow down a bit? Maybe aim for a minor god next time?"

"And I told you, it wasn't me this time."

Oh, he was glad it was not him this time. For once, his luck was playing in his favor. He found it sort of ironic that it came to fruition in Las Vegas of all places. He certainly could have used it a bit earlier.

Another sip from his drink drive that thought out of his head. At this point, he would take what he could get. Luck was luck and beggars could not be choosers.

"I don't care what you say. The fact of the matter is that Poseidon's people saw you fighting him then he's dead. Gone."

"Lilith ate him."

A part of him felt bad for the jackal-headed god sitting next to him. The exasperated look on Anubis' face spoke volumes of the crap the god had been going through because of him.

That part of him was silenced with another mouthful of his fizzy drink.

"Look." Anubis ran a hand through the bush of braids that sat at the back of his head. "Can you just slow it down? Maybe switch up your target group? The Hindus have millions!"

"I can't promise anything. Zeus apparently has it out for me."

Watching the god slam his against the bar shouldn't have been amusing enough to make him laugh yet it did. Maybe it was the image of a dog banging his head in exasperation or maybe his empathetic abilities had been worn down by his own experiences.

Either way, he was laughing on the inside

"I give up. There's no point in fighting it. Go ahead and commit deicide. Who cares?"

The god's groan ranged out beneath the cover of his arms. Naruto reached over and gave the god a comforting pat on the back. He may have been inwardly laughing but that didn't mean he couldn't feel the man's pain. He could relate to the crushing futility of trying to change a situation.

He could relate all too well.

"Boy, Vegas is the place to be!"

If the god wasn't in public, Naruto was sure he would be screaming in frustration based off of the dread that populated his face. With a sense of foreboding, Anubis raised his head up and turned it toward the voice.

"Without golden boy Hades, luck is finally headin' my way!"

Out of the crowd of came strutting Osiris. The full suit the blond had seen him in was abandoned; In its place, a Hawaiian shirt and a pair of khakis covered the man's mummified skin.

"That scythe-wielding bastard ain't holding me back anymore. Egypt is gettin' her gold back!"

Another sigh from Anubis drew Naruto's attention back over to the jackal. If looks could kill, he was sure that both Anubis and Osiris would be dead as the jackal's gaze was equal parts embarrassed and resentful.

"Anubis, it's going to be a tight ride home for ya!"

If the mummy dressed in vacation clothing wasn't ridiculous enough, the fact that the man had a literal armful of casino chips clutched to his chest was enough to make even Naruto question the situation. The mad grin that sat across the god's green lips only seemed to tease the absurdity of the scene.

"Dad, we didn't come here to gamble."

"Boy, I didn't help give birth to my brother to have him assassinate me and cut my penis off. Life is full of the unexpected!"

In an odd sort of way, Naruto found himself relating the interaction between father and sony with his own interactions with Jiraiya. Osiris' crude yet sagacious words reeked over the toad sage. And the absolute disinterest and loathing that sat in Anubis' eyes reminded him of his own youthful self.

Oh, how he pitied the jackal god.

"We'll make i-"

"And, you!"

Osiris cut off his son as he rounded on Naruto. The blond leaned backward to avoid the slight spill of the man's ebony chips while meeting the dead eyes of the Egyptian god.

"You got the scythe and the trident in ya possession right now. You're going for the crown next?"

"I'm not going for it but it's probably going to come to me. And, I don't have any trident. That belongs to Lilith."

The God released a laugh before settling into the seat next to him. With a loud heave, he allowed his chips to spill onto the bar in front of him while he leaned back into his seat.

"I had you pinned wrong, boy." The God gave a long stretch of his limbs before settling his arms on his small mountain of chips.

"I thought you were a trouble maker. Now, I see you're just an unfortunate son-of-a-bitch who is surrounded by trouble."

That about summed it up for Naruto as he downed the last bit of his drink. An unfortunate soul surrounded by trouble. The thought brought a grin to his face as he rose up from his seat.

"I have to get back to my room before Lilith stabs someone with that thing."

He offered a wave of his shoulder despite how useless it was. He could already hear the two gods of death arguing. Their words managed to reach him over the bustling casino and its ambient noise. A smile graced his face while happy memories of his time with Jiraiya danced through his mind.

"Dad, did you use my money to gamble again?"

"Your money? Boy, continue acting selfishly like that and you'll be the next one chopped up."

Yup. All happy memories.

* * *

"How dare you?"

Teenagers. Couldn't live without them. At least, that's what he told himself when he decided to take this young, angry brat under his wing.

"You put my name on this? My actual name? What is wrong with you?"

Okay. Maybe putting the boy' humiliating defeat in print and allowing the full supernatural world to have access to it for a simple five dollars plus shipping was a little harsh on his party. Maybe he should have asked Vali first. Maybe he overstepped a bit.

"Can you actually talk instead of sitting there looking like an idiot?"

His inner monologue came to a crashing end with the devil's words and along came a focus on the outside pen that he had been balancing on his nose for a record-setting four minutes came clattering down onto his desk as he turned his chair to face the devil.

His outside focus dissipated almost immediately at the sight of the devil Prince dressed in a sugar-dusted, orange apron. It was only under the strength of his own will and the terrifying anger that radiated from his charge, that he managed to stifle the giggles that wanted so desperately to erupt from his mouth.

"My bad. My mind got lost in the clouds."

Admittedly, that response wasn't much better than him outright laughing in the devil's face but it served its purpose in not getting him punched in the face; If only by the slimmest of margins.

"Explain this trash to me."

He didn't have to look down to know what Vali had just slammed on his desk. The devil's response was all he needed to know.

"Well…" He leaned back into his plush and leather seat, recently bought under the profits of his new hit-seller while picking up his pen.

"Some of the factions leaders and I decided that a great first step of solidarity would be to work on a collaborative project."

"And my life was the first choice?"

"Not exactly your life. Just a strong dramatization of it all."

Oh boy. That was not the right thing to say. His butt left his ultra-comfortable seat as he was forced to duck beneath his desk. Vali's fist tore through the air above him, sending his chair flying across the room and scaring the dickens out of him.

"Everything but my name! Now my name is attached to this … garbage."

He took a risky peak from his safe place. Burning hazel eyes peered back at him, making him want to do nothing but crawl back beneath his desk.

Vali was scary when he was angry.

But, so was he! He wouldn't be bullied by the piss-filled brat. He worked hard on those illustrations and he would not allow them to be written off as garbage. They were art, dammit!

"My drawings are not garbage. I slaved away at my computer to get your every little detail just right. My art is perfect!"

Sometime during his little rant, he had risen from his hiding spot and now stood over the devil. He had on his best mean face, the most intimidating visage he could muster up. Whole armies of devil and angels had been forced into retreat from a mere glimpse of this look. This look had helped end the Faction Wars.

"I look like an overweight infant in this mess. Your art is nowhere near perfect. I don't know who would even publish this crap. And, stop making that face. It looks like you're constipated."

Apparently, the look wasn't good enough to defeat a teenage devil. He allowed his ass to reunite with the ground as defeat rolled through him. Why did he have to adopt such a mean son?

"For the record, Heaven itself published my work! That's who would publish this 'crap'."

He had to slip in that piece of information, if not for himself then for the pride of his work. His work was heaven approved after all.

"Michael approved of this crap. Is he apart of this? What the hell is wrong with you people?"

"A lot, Vali. A lot. Much more than you would ever be able to guess."

* * *

"Did you hear? Did you hear what Na-"

"Yes, Gabriel. I heard."

It would have been almost impossible to not hear about the boy's beating of the Olympian. The supernatural world had been set aflame by the news. Naruto Uzumaki, thought to be a mere candy god months before, had now slain two of the three Greek brothers. A candy god now held domain in the realm of death and the sea.

"Will you relent now? Will you believe?"

He had to hold back a groan as she approached his desk with those doe-like eyes full of hope. She had been like this since her visit to the shop owner. Where she had been repetitive before she was now incessant in her questioning.

"I still don't know, Gabriel."

Oh, how quick those doe eyes could turn sharp. Before the full sentence could even leave his mouth, she was upon him, her hands planted across his desk and her face inches from his own.

"Why are you being so stubborn, Michael? Do you enjoy this struggle?"

"I do not, sister. But I have not reached the point where I am willing to put my faith in theories. The question I have for you is why you continue to press this issue?"

After a few moments of staring, he watched the lines of her face soften while she stepped away from his desk. For that, he was grateful. He knew his sister was the most angelic being in existence but that did not mean she couldn't put up a scary facade.

"You weren't there, Michael."

The wistful tone his sister had taken up told the angel he was in for a ride. A low sigh, inaudible to the yearning angel in front of him, slipped out of his lips as he settled back into his chair.

"It was only a glimpse, brother. The smallest of instances. Yet, I felt it. The room was filled with it! With him."

Michael leaned further back into his chair. His sister's misty eyes danced in front of him, beckoning for a response.

Who would've thought that this is where he would find himself? The golden child of God was now as confused and unremarked as the day he was brought to life.

A long exhale left through his nose. His father had left him in charge, to carry on his legacy. Was his job over? Had another truly come to shoulder this burden?

Had his father come back?

"I'll meet with him again. "

As the words left his mouth, a weight lifted off of his shoulders. Maybe it was the bright smile Gabriel flashed him at that moment or maybe it the prospect of not being nagged anymore. Either way, Michael knew something changed that day.

He could only hope that it was for the best.

"She … is a menace with that thing."

He found it hard to disagree while looking at the current state of their hotel. It was chaotic to say the least and Lilith stood at the center of it all, wielding a trident that looked like it was three times her height. The young dragon looked proud of herself while she twirled the weapon around herself like a child would twirl a baton. Unfortunately for her surroundings, she was just as clumsy and the sharp edges of the weapon were not forgiving in the slightest.

"...You should take it away."

Him? The inward shock he felt showed on his face as he looked down at Ophis.

"Why me?"

"...You're the father."

He always knew the day Ophis gained a sense of humor would be an interesting one. Such a dry personality would lead to a dry sense of humor. He had only wished he wasn't among one of her first victims.

Ignoring the small smile tugging away at the dragon's lips, he began his steady march over to Lilith. A laughed sat at the back of his throat as he walked. Would it have been weird for him to admit his trepidation at the moment? Not at the prospect of being stabbed with the trident; he had faced far worse when it came to fighting. No, the prospect of being a father - even if it was only for a second - struck at his heart. The hit landed and made him freeze up in front of the girl. Instead of her stopping him, she stopped when she took notice of his presence.

"Father."

Father. That word snapped him out of his trance. He may not have been an actual father but at this moment, for his own safety, he needed to act like one.

"I need you to give me the trident. I'll give it back later but now it's time to put it away."

He held out his hand in what he thought was a fatherly manner. At least, in his mind, he seemed fatherly. He didn't have much experience when it came to fathers and the like but he was trying his best.

The blank stare at Lilith showed him made him quickly doubt how fatherly and authoritative he actually came off as. Of course, the dragon's default setting was apathetic but the nervous blond wasn't thinking straight at the moment. He was trying his best not to get pierced by that trident.

Lilith stared at him. She stared in silence for several long moments. The moments dragged, dragged on to the point where he began to sweat. The feeling only grew worse when the young dragon decided to turn her attention away from him and look at the Trident. The way her eyes ran over the weapon's golden surface was a bit more than worrying. The burning in his stomach seemed to agree with him.

"Okay, father."

And just like that, the burning in his stomach was doused by a wave of shock. He nearly jumped back when the dragon held the trident up to his face. He had to look back at the dragon's face to confirm that he was seeing straight. When he was met with her patent blank stare, he decided that he had enough with questioning and took the weapon out of her hand.

"Don't worry. I'll give it back later."

A nod. His face nearly split apart at the sight of that nod. A part of him realized that a large part of his happiness came from the knowledge that things could have gone so much worse. Though, his recent habitat on looking on the brighter side of things made him ignore that part as he sealed away Poseidon's - now technically Lilith's - trident.

"For now, let's try and relax without swinging around giant wea-

His words died in his mouth when a door knock echoed through the room. He turned his head toward the door to see Ophis already standing with her hand on its knob.

He had never considered himself paranoid but in that singular moment where Ophis was pulling the door open, a chaotic swarm of thoughts and worries bombarded him. As relaxed as he tried to be, he couldn't ignore the fact that he undoubtedly had a whole faction of gods on his ass after killing two of their leaders. So, he felt no shame in donning his sage cloak at that instant.

"I bought some stuff."

Luckily for him, hs paranoia would be for naught. Instead of a god or some hitman, Koneko was the one standing behind the door. On either of her arms sat a ludicrous amount of clothing. He allowed his cloak to die away while he watched the Nekoshou step into the room and shot Ophis a grateful nod before dropping her bags to the ground.

"There are some snac-"

There was no hesitation in him this time when the sound of knocking reached his ears. He was across the room in a second, his hand wrapped around Ophis' wrist, stopping her from opening the door. He only needed a single look to silence any questioning from her before he devoted his full attention to the closed door. The flames of his sage cloak licked away at his vision as he moved his eye towards the door's peephole. He pressed his eye against the tiny window and squinted hard to see who was on the opposite side. His heart nearly leaped out of his chest when he saw who it was.

"Who is it?"

"It is I, Artemis."

He didn't bother turning away to see Koneko's reaction. He wasn't quite sure if he had told the girl about his immortal stalker but he couldn't afford to take his eye off of the goddess. After what had gone down between him and Poseidon, there was no way he was trusting her to be anything but hostile.

"Do you need me to kill her, father?"

If it weren't for his past interactions with the girl, Naruto was sure he would have to turn away from the door out of pure shock at her words. Instead, he held strong and shook his head in reply while his hand crept toward the knob of the door.

"I'm going to handle it."

Oh, he was going to handle it. And by handling it, he meant flashing her away as far as he could and hoping she wouldn't manage to find her way back.

"Just to prefix this, I have no plans on harming you."

Those words froze him in place. A curse leaped from his mouth as his hand rested on the door knob.

"I'm not dealing with this crap on my vacation."

From Artemis' perspective, she went from staring at a wooden door to staring at the human equivalent of the sun in the matter of a moment. Before she could even think to reach for her weapon, her uncle's trident sat inches from her face.

"Tell me what you want."

Her eyes traveled from the tip of the trident up its shaft and eventually landed on the now orange eyes of her blond target. A smile, one strained from the power radiating from Naruto and the awkwardness of the situation, popped on her face while she locked eyes with the boy.

"I came to deliver an offer."

The narrowing of his eyes nearly made her hands reached for her now. But a part of her, the part that remembered watching the god in front of her battle, knew it was for naught. The speed at which he could manipulate those orbs of his outpaced anything she could produce. She would be dead before she could even notch an arrow.

"I honestly don't want to hea-"

"It's from Zeus."

She knew she was taking a risk saying that name considering the bad reputation it carried; One she had helped build. The narrowed look she received in return told her how close she was towing her personal line of safety. Though, the fact that the blond had chosen not to skewer her with her uncle's weapon prompted her to continue.

"He would like to sit down and talk with you. Today. He is waiting in the lobby right now. Feel free to come prepared."

With her piece said, she dared a step backward. When Naruto didn't decide to attack her, a sigh broke past her lips before she turned her back and began walking. She managed to make it several steps in her calm pace before she broke out in a sprint, disappearing around a corner and out of Naruto's sight a few moments later.

"I think you may need to give Lilith her trident back."

Naruto's attention was brought away from the hallway by the sound of his girlfriend's voice. His eyes cut over to her form leaning against the doorway.

"I have no use for it. It was fun to play with but it would only slow me when serving my father. You can have it, Aunt Koneko."

Both Koneko and Naruto turned back toward the dragon after she spoke. Did they hear her correctly? It took a shared look between them both to confirm that the words that came out of Lilith's mouth actually came out of her mouth.

"Ah…" The sound slipped out of his mouth while the sage's chakra faded from his body. His eyes cut between Koneko and Lilith for a few moments before landing on the golden weapon in his hand. His hesitation lasted for several more moments before a shrug announced his decision to the world.

"Sure. I think that's a good idea."

He held the trident out toward the girl and within a second it was out of his hands. He blinked at the sudden change before he lowered his gaze down to the girl.

"You feel any different?"

He had to ask the question. Holding the weapon, he hadn't felt any noticeable changes. Lilith seemed to feel the same way. From the nonchalant look on Koneko's face, the same seemed to go for her. The shrug she offered him as she twirled around the weapon.

"I feel … more wet."

Her words, along with the small smile tugging at her lips, dragged a laugh out of him. Leave it up to her to make him laugh despite the fact that a god, one that he had killed two of its brothers, sat waiting for him in the lobby of their hotel.

"I also felt a bit of dampness while holding the weapon."

Lilith's words sucked the amusement right out of him. It seemed to do the exact opposite for Koneko. The small grin on her face erupted into a peal of laughter. Even Ophis seemed amused by her daughter's words. The slight hum of Kurama's chuckling within the recesses of his mind tipped him off that even his partner was laughing it up at him.

"I rather talk to Zeus than stay up here."

His words went ignored in the room full of laughter, excluding Lilith, of course. As soon as the young girl saw her father step out of the room, she bolted after him. It was only after he had turned on his heel and was halfway down the hallway that the duo of Nekoshou and dragon noticed his disappearance. With a quick jog, the two girls caught up to their favorite blond.

"You can't fight Zeus without us."

He took a moment to look down at the girls by his side. One dragon god, her clone-daughter and one devil-nekoshou that now held the trident of a Greek God in her hands. The sight of the odd group brought a chuckle out of the blond as he stepped into an elevator.

"Yeah, together we'll be alright."

* * *

The elevator ride down to the lobby had to be one of the oddest trips Naruto had ever taken despite its length. Luckily for him, his group were the only ones to hop in. He had no doubt that the god's presence below played a part in that. That left him alone in a mechanized box with his three companions while sub-par music played from a broken speaker.

Definitely one of his more odd elevator rides.

The door to the machine sprung open, freeing the group of four. He was the first to step out, followed by his girlfriend and their two dragon companions.

The emptiness of the lobby floor was their first warning that something was definitely off. Not even the greeter was present in the building. No, the only thing that stood in the room was his group…

"Naruto Uzumaki!"

And the glimmering man who had burst through the hotel doors. His presence was undeniable, his loud shouting and glowing body made sure of that. Everything from the man's blond hair to his teeth and even down to the bronze skin that made up his toes glowed. The white toga that covered most of his body offered some reprieve from his shine.

"You're the man I wanted to speak with!"

The man didn't stop at the lobby door. With several long strides, he began making his way over toward the group. He managed to make it halfway across the lobby before stopping. Not on his own accord, of course, but because of the two dragons and the trident-wielding Nekoshou that met his advance.

"Woah!" The god's hands shot up at the sign of their assault. Luckily for him, that actually managed to stop them in their tracks. Whether it was out of willingness or pure confusion, he didn't know but the man wasn't going to question not being attacked.

"I meant no harm! Really! I just want to talk to Naruto."

"You will not get close to my father."

The man's eyes drifted over to Lilith for a brief moment. That moment was all he needed to know that taking any more steps would not be best for his health. So, instead, he turned his attention away from the dragon and toward the blond standing at the other side of the room. He sucked in a deep breath before shouting:

"Hey, kid! How would you like to rule Olympus?"

* * *

 _ **AN: We draw closer to the end. Another chapter down, another 'twist' I'm sure someone picked up on and another**_ headahce _ **for our main blond boy. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Feel free to PM me if you're confused about anything in this chapter. PM or review if you had any questions, comments,**_ concerns _ **and questions. Have a good rest of the day!**_


	40. Chapter 40

Where had it all gone wrong? What wrong turn had he taken in life that landed him at a table in the middle of Los Angeles, sitting across from the leader of the Greek pantheon while his own personal group of dragons and devils sat by his side? How bad had he rolled on the dice that determined his luck in life?

"Look, I'm sorry for all the confusion and misconceptions, man."

The baritone voice forced his focus back into the reality of the moment. Zeus, in all of his mighty glory, sat at the opposite end of the table, his fingers covered in BBQ sauce while the bones of several chicken wings sat on neatly on a porcelain plate.

"I get a pretty bad rep nowadays. Lesson to you kids, your past mistakes and infidelities will follow you for the rest of your life, even if that life goes on for thousands of years."

The man let out a laugh at his own words, unknowingly sending bits of the sauce spilling from his mouth onto his pristine toga. Before the sauce could stain, it was lifted from the white sheets as if by magic, leaving them as pure as they had been moments before.

"Now, I'm putting that all behind me. I'm moving forward with life. And to move forward, I need to get rid of some things from my past."

The man unceremoniously dropped the wing he was holding before he began to dig into his robe. The group of four watched him blindly search through his robes for a few moments before a pleased look announced that he had found his treasure.

"Here we go!"

With a loud bang, the object came clattering onto the table. Every single eye at the table gravitated toward the object; It was hard for them not to. The thing was large, brassy, shining and immaculate. Not to mention that it was covered from top to bottom with jewels.

"What was that?"

From a glance the identity of the object was pretty clear despite his questioning. The thing was a crown, its shining surface and the jewels embedded in it made that very clear to them all. The sinking feeling in his stomach was only beginning to confirm the words that would undoubtedly come out of the god's mouth.

"It's the crown of Olympus!"

Those were the words. Naruto sunk down in his seat with a sigh, his plate of fries untouched. By his side Lilith and Ophis didn't seem the least bothered by the man's words while they collectively munched on a plate of nachos. Koneko seemed to be the only one who felt his misfortune as she scooted closer to his left.

"Well, to be fair, it's just a crown." The god scooped the object back up into his hands then placed it on his head. "There's nothing special about it. You don't put it on and become the chief god or anything like that."

Another laugh escaped the god's mouth as he set the crown back down and with it, Naruto's confusion began to grow. The situation itself was extremely baffling and the god's flippant attitude wasn't helping a bit when it came to him coping.

Koneko, on the other hand, seemed perfectly fine with the situation. She made that very clear to everyone at the table when she reached across it and grabbed the crown off the table. With a level of frivolous that shouldn't be possible when holding the crown to the pantheon, the girl plopped then plopped the crown on her head.

"The crown looks good on ya!"

Zeus barked out the words along with a laugh. The sight of his girlfriend wearing the crown left Naruto, once again, speechless. His eyes met with hers before a brief instant before a tug at his arm made him look away.

"I think it's looks nice."

Lilith's words and earnest gaze made him nearly fall out of his chair. Yet, he managed to keep himself up right.

"I don't like it. It messes with my ears."

And, just like that, his sense of togetherness came crashing down. Because as those words were leaving her mouth, Koneko decided to place the crown on top of his head. And, unlike with her, a reaction took place.

"The crown really likes you!"

The god had to say his statement while shielding his eyes because of the bright light the crown flashed from atop of Naruto's head. Where the thing had looked like a well-made knock-off when it was on the table, it now looked like a star on the blond's head. Koneko, Lilith and Ophis were even forced to look away from him as the intensity of the crown filled the air. The only one who wasn't affected by the light was the dismayed Uzumaki.

"No, no, no. I'm not doing this again!"

In a mad scramble, he reached up to his head, snatched the crown off of his golden locks and threw it towards Zeus. He refused to deal with the glowing crown or the Greeks anymore.

He had had enough.

The futility of that refusal became clear to him when the crown did a sharp u-turn in midair back toward him. He ducked his head in a dodge attempt, an attempt that was met with failure when the crown made a hard stop over the top of his head before falling onto his head.

"It really really likes you." The god mumbled to himself while watching the blond continuously rip the crown off his head and throw it only for it to come flying back to its original position. The scene managed to keep him entertained for a solid minute before he decided it was time to make his exit. With the crown ditched, and all of his responsibility with it, it was now time to start his well-deserved millenium long vacation.

While stealth wasn't exactly his forte, he felt that he did a good job getting up from his seat and sneaking toward the restaurant's exit without being noticed. He was proven wrong when a golden arm wrapped around his midsection before dragging him back to the table, bringing him face to face with a sage-cloaked and highly irritated Naruto.

"You're not leaving without this thing." He growled in the god's before reaching up and attempting to rip the damned thing off of his head. Attempted was the optimal word because this attempt ended in failure. The crown stayed put on his head no matter how hard he tried to pull it off. The irritation on his face morphed into utter dread as his incessant tugging won him no progress.

"I like you, Naruto."

His attention from torn from the crown and dragged to the god he still held in his chakra arm. The man was flashing him an infuriating smile despite the construct of energy wrapped around his body.

"I respect two things: power and beautiful women. You seem to have a good grasp on both, so I'll hand you a bit of advice."

Without warning, Zeus exploded into a flash of lightning strong enough to send the blond reeling backward. The god reappeared near the door, his toga untouched and his smile still in place.

"Some bald guy told me this a while back. You can't fight this stuff so you might as well embrace it. It took me a couple of millenniums to figure out one loophole out of this crap."

The god offered his agitated counterpart a hearty salute before disappearing in a crack of thunder, leaving Naruto alone with his group and his new crown.

"That bastard!" He screeched. The trio of dragon and devil watched as the blond rolled across the ground, his hands glued to the golden crown in an attempt to tear it off his head. The spectacle continued for a whole minute before Lilith approached the boy.

"Father…"

The dragon's words went ignored while the blond focused on his crown. A frown marred the girl's face as she watched her parent figure freak out. The frown turned into an outright scowl after several moments before the girl reached down and snatched the ornament off his head.

"Please calm yourself, Father."

It was hard not to feel like an idiot when a girl, who was technically less than a year old, was standing over him with the object of his frustration held in her hands as if he hadn't been freaking about it only moments before. He felt a bit humiliated, admittedly, but at this point in his life humiliation was a norm. So, he sucked up the last broken bits of his pride and climbed back up to his feet.

With his attention not on the leech-like crown on top of his head, he took the chance to observe the object. Honestly, in Lilith's hands hands, it looked harmless, even fake. It had a cheap plastic look to it that made it seem like something you would get from a convenience store rather than the crown to a pantheon of gods.

"I guess I'm stuck with this cro-"

Before he could get the full word out of his mouth, the crown leapt out of the dragon's hands. The group of four watched as it flew over his head. In an instinct, the blond had both of his arms covering his scalp in some attempt to stop the thing from landing on his head. He soon found out how useless his efforts were when instead of swooping down onto his head like an arctic owl onto to a bare, the crown stood in place and began to glow. Like a shooting star, it held all of their attention as it vomited out an egregious amount of light. At one point the thing got so bright that the blond was forced to squint in order to keep his attention on the thing.

The dazzling light lasted for several moments before dying away in an instant, revealing the crown's new form. Gone were the expensive jewels and the nearly luminescent golden surface. In its place remained an ebony surface, one dark enough to disguise itself in the dark of the night. The pointed tips of the crown were now rounded into a trio of tight spirals that were strung together by an even darker string.

The object remained in the air for several moments before descending down toward Naruto. This time he didn't bother trying to dodge the object, allowing it to approach his neck without hesitation. The necklace attached itself around his collar, the string melding with his skin as if it was water. Its presence would have been unnoticeable to him if he wasn't looking at the three spirals hanging beneath his adam's apple.

"That looks much more appealing than that gaudy crown."

Ophis was right. He didn't want to admit that she was because that meant admitting that he found the stupid thing appealing in any way, but he knew that her words were true. The spirals reminded him of the magmata that surrounded his neck during his stents in sage mode. The nearly naked feeling of the accessory didn't help in his mind either.

"I think our vacation is over."

The moment he had took a step on that beach his vacation had been over. He could try as much as he could but there was no getting away from this wreck of a life.

"I call sitting next to father on the ride home."

* * *

Their trip home, to the blond's joy, had been completely lackluster. He had grown numb to the odd looks he received when traveling with his odd gang of creatures, so the only thing he had to worry about was a god meddling in his business. Nothing of the sort happened, leaving him as a happy shinobi.

"Hold my bag while I grab my keys."

Without a second thought, his bulky bags containing his clothes for the week was lifted from his arms by Ophis, an act that was a far cry from how she would have treated him weeks prior. He still sometimes found it hard to believe the dragon's attitude adjustment but couldn't find it within himself to question it much. After all, it made his hectic life just a little bit more manageable. What else could he even ask for?

With his hands now free, he dug into his pants' pockets and pulled out the metal key to his room. He slid the key into the lock and turned, unlocking the door and pushing it open. He made it a whole two steps into the building before he took notice of something peculiar.

"Naruto! You're home … finally."

Getting greeted by Kuroka wasn't odd by any stretch of his imagination. The woman lived in his living room which made it pretty difficult for him to avoid her.

No, it was the way she greeted him that captured his attention. She was tense, her normal smile strained to a point that looked uncomfortable on her face. Her back was straightened to a near perfect line, a far cry from how he usually found her reclined on his couch. Her folded hands were the last straw on the pile of hints that something was not right.

"Welcome back from your vacation, Naruto."

It didn't take long to find the source of Kuroka's discomfort. The man who had invaded his house sat directly across from the distressed devil.

"Hello, Michael."

The angel gave him a nod before rising up from his love seat. The blond's eyes followed him as the leader of heaven walked around the living room's couch toward him.

"I hope you don't mind me coming into your house unannounced."

That innocent little smile on the Seraph's face may have worked on other people but Naruto knew better. The angel knew he would be annoyed by someone breaking into his house, ally or not.

"What do you want?"

At that moment, he was filled with regret. With an angel standing in front of him, the decision to cut his vacation short didn't seem like such a good one anymore. Though, it seems that no matter where he went the trouble would follow him.

"I would like for you to come to Heaven."

"Why?"

A week or two ago, he would have immediately belted out a no and kicked the angel out of his house. Now though, after the fight had beaten the fight out of him, he stood willing enough to at least hear Michael's argument.

"I would like to test something that is only possible in my domain."

His first thought: this sounded like an obvious trapped. He had been to Heaven once and that still remained as one of his least pleasant memories in this world. Nothing in him wanted to return to the city atop of the clouds.

"What do you want to test out? Find a new type of rope that drains my powers?"

Michael didn't seem the least bothered by the obvious mistrust in his voice. The angel took it in stride, nodding and laughing at his comment while holding his hands up in a pacifying manner.

"I promise it's nothing like that. We are allies, after all."

He was right. They were allies. After that debacle of a treaty signing that he had been dragged in to, there was no denying that he was a part of the angel-devil-fallen trifecta. Some even labelled him as the cornerstone of the entire thing.

"Why don't you just tell me what you want then? No needs for secrets between allies, right?."

The words came out a lot more childish and biting than he would have liked but he couldn't help himself. This guy didn't know what type of chaos he had been thrown into during the last couple of days. He had left his home with intentions on relaxing and returned with the relics of two Olympians, bringing his current collection to a unnecessarily high of three.

"Well…" The angel swept his eyes over toward Ophis and Lilith, a clear sign of how he felt about the duo. The gesture sent Naruto's eyes rolling, though he could understand the angel's hesitation.

To him, Lilith and even Ophis were harmless. He regularly forgot about the fact that the duo held enough power to put him on the ropes and destroy the world. Any rational person would be hesitant to give the set of dragons any more power than they already had.

"Are you afraid of two little girls?" Little they may have been, them actually being girls was questionable all together, the blond knew how absolutely ridiculous and inflammatory is statement was. He was just hoping that the angel couldn't see the same.

"I'm afraid of a being who had the potential to destroy the world with its strength."

"They aren't going to do anything like that. I promise."

His statement earned him a queer look from the chaste angel. The look lasted for a moment before the man switched his attention over to Lilith and Ophis. He stared at the duo for a similar duration before cutting his attention back to Naruto. He repeated the process again and again and again, his eyes narrowing with each switch.

"You've become rather attached to Ophis and her spawn since the last time I've interacted with you."

That truth smacked him hard across the face. Harsh and undeniable, it sunk into his skin and assaulted his nerves, forcing him to turn and face the mentioned dragon. He was met with two faces, one void of emotion and the other seemingly waiting on his next words.

"I don't see what's the point of you bringing that up." The blond turned back to the angel only to be met with an accusatory stare. The look was as confusing as it was off-putting, it nearly managing to send the blond reeling backward.

"No reason." And, just like that, the look disappeared from the angel's face. "You're right. I have nothing to fear with you restraining the duo.

If he hadn't already been living in a state of perpetual confusion prior to this interaction, Michael's behavior may have left him in a bit of a loop.

"I wish to text the extent of your powers using a system located in Heaven. Its existence is hidden from all excluding a select few individuals. With it, we would have an accurate measure of the full extent of your abilities and be able to accurately call upon you when needed. "

The angel's matter-of-fact tone put a smile on Naruto's face. Honesty. It was something he rarely got nowadays. He may have had to force it out a little bit but getting it, in the end, was good enough for him.

"You should have just said that to begin with." He exclaimed with a bright smile on his face. "That actually sounds interesting."

"Wonderful." The angel flashed his own smile before snapping his fingers. In a flash of blinding light, Naruto and his group, including Kuroka, found themselves standing somewhere very different from the blond's living room.

For the shinobi, the two dragons and Koneko, who were only a couple hours separated from encountering two greek gods, the sudden transition into the well-lit garden area was nothing to their steeled-nerves. Kuroka, however, was somewhat virgin to the eccentric abnormalities that followed her housemate. She only managed to catch a glimpse of his adventures while manning his store in his steed.

That was why the sight that greeted her was so shocking. The couchladden room she had uncomfortably sat in with one of Heaven's angel's had been replaced by an expansive garden, one filled with enough vegetation to feed an army. White marble lined the stone walkway that split the garden in two leading to a singular domed building that was surrounded by a golden gate. Above her sat a blue sky, uncovered and untarnished by a single cloud.

"So beautiful." The devil muttered to herself before taking notice that everyone in the group had started to move on without her. In a quick dash, she managed to reconnect with the party and catch on to Michael's words.

"We're in the seventh level of Heaven, the one you managed to stumble upon during your first visit here." The sarcastic tone layering Michael's words and the bashful look on Naruto's face told Kuroka all she needed to know about the situation. The shinobi's increasingly wild reputation concerning the supernatural leaders only made things more clear for her.

"Sorry about that."

Naruto's apology was met with a small smile and silence, causing his already uneasy smile to waver in strength. Michael's smile did the opposite, growing where its counterpart shrunk. The small exchange lasted for a few moments before the two men broke eye contact.

"Behind these gates lay something that very few beings have seen in the history of the world. It is one of Heaven's most guarded secrets, so much so that it is completely separate from the other levels of Heaven."

The angel stopped in front of the golden gate, prompting the rest of the group to follow suit. Instead of procuring a key, the man instead raised his hand up to the barrier. He pressed his palm against the gate's keyhole. The area beneath his hand lit up when his hand touched the gate before a loud click rang through the guard. Within a moment of the second, the gate slowly drifted open, flooding the group with a rush air.

"The gate is just for show."

The angel's backhanded comment was lost on the group. Their attention was stolen from the man by the _awe_ emitting from the building. It was an unexplainable sensation, one Michael was even captured by. It was only because of his prior experience that he had the presence of mind to turn and observe the awe-filled faces of Naruto's group.

"I had a very similar reaction when Father first brought me here. It is indescribable, isn't it?"

He didn't wait for a response, instead opting to work toward the building. Unlike the gate, the doors to the structure needed no prompting from the angel, opening on their own as the angel approached. The group quickly followed the angel through the door, their eyes immediately soaking in all the building had to offer.

To Naruto, the building's interior was spartan, even when comparing it to some of the standards set by shinobi he knew. The place was obviously not for living in as there wasn't a single sort of amenity to be seen. The curved walls were white and barren. The only thing that decorated them was a sprinkle of light emitting from the center of the room.

What stood as the only attraction in the room wasn't remarkable by any measure. A white pedestal brought it to about waist level for the angel and shinobi. Just like the surrounding walls, its curved surface were white and barren. A thin light, one Naruto had serious doubts could fill the entire room like it did, sat in the mouth of the object. Two leads, both leather-bound and worn, dangled from the object.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?"

A shadow fell over the group before their mind could catch up with their thoughts. Instinctually, their collective attention turned upward. The will to fight flooded nearly every one them as their minds screamed ambush until they laid eyes on the owner of the voice.

"I thought we agreed that you wouldn't be here during the process."

To the group, it was very clear that Michael was annoyed with his sister. Even as the angelic woman floated down from the ceiling, her flight aided by the use of her wings, the Seraph was sending her a glare. The look didn't seem to ruffle any of her feathers if the smile on her face was anything to go by. Instead, she smiled, beaming her naturally white teeth at the group of devils, dragons, and ninja.

"I couldn't wait, Michael. I couldn't possibly wait for this."

The words left her mouth as her feet met with the ground. The golden wings supporting her during her descent shimmered for a brief moment before disappearing from view.

"This moment could renew us. It could truly bring the world together just like he always wa-"

Her talking came to an abrupt in when she sucked in a deep breath. With her cheeks puffed outward, the angel held the breath for several moments before slowly letting it loose. Once finished, her previous smile returned to her face as she turned to Michael.

"I'm sorry, brother. Please continue."

She offered the angel a bow of her head before taking a step backward toward the wall. Michael looked at her for a brief moment, a sigh leaving his mouth during the time, before switching his attention over to Naruto.

"I apologize for that. We can start now. All you have to do is grab one of the leads."

To say he was a bit freaked out would have been a massive understatement for Naruto. He had been, albeit a tiny bit skeptical about Michael's intention all the way up to the point where Gabriel had come swooping down from the ceiling of the building and started rambling about uniting the world. His trepidation must have shown on his face, making Michael grunt before shooting his sister a pointed look.

"Please ignore my sister. I assure you that nothing is amiss here."

To reassure him, Michael reached out and grabbed onto one of the leather leads. For several moments silence dominated the building's interior before the angel released his hold.

"See? Nothing strange. Just do as I did and we can move on."

His eyes cut over to the lead, staying there for a few moments before moving over to Michael. He stared at the angel's face for several moments, attempting to find any sign of deceit.

"I'll check for you, father."

Because of his intense observation of Michael's face, Naruto got a first-hand view of the angel's expression descending into shocked horror at Lilith's words. In an instant, the angel placed himself between the pedestal and the dragon, halting her outstretched hand from touching one of the leads.

"That being cannot touch the Holy system! There's no telling what could happen if the system reads her energy." The angel looked frantic as the words left his mouth. Lilith's neutral face descended into a frown at the angel. Her outstretched hand began to glow an inky purple, prompting both Michael and Gabriel to flare out their wings in defense.

"Lilith!" And, just like that, the girl's arm dropped down to her side, any side of the built of energy gone. She looked back at her father and, seeing the stern look on his face, dropped her head before taking a step away from Michael and the pedestal.

"I'll grab the thing, Michael." The angel's attention was dragged away from Lilith when Naruto spoke."If anything goes wrong, though, know that I won't be able here to calm her down."

With those words, Naruto took a step toward the pedestal. Michael remained standing in front of the object, his own hesitation showing as he looked between the blond and the dragon. It was only after a muffled cry from Gabriel that the angel decided to move away from the pedestal.

With Michael out of the way, Naruto stared down into the small bowel containing the light. From up close, it didn't look any more unique than before. The light from within was bright enough to blind him from seeing any intricacies inside the bowl.

"Here it goes."

A paused preceded his actions before he reached down and took a single reign into each of his hands.

There was no hesitation. The reaction was immediate. As the lengths of leather laid in the blond's weathered hands, the light within the bowl leaped outward, finding refuge in the eyes of the surrounding creatures. Their pupils dilated to a fraction of their previous size moments before their hands came up to shield their faces. The action proved pointless, however, as the group has been collectively blinded, including the two angels.

" _...Father…I love you… Please watch over mommy and daddy._ "

A voice, childish and demure in nature, reached him. The light had stolen his vision away, leaving him with a view of nothing but white. The remainder of his senses were still with him, allowing him to hear the melodious call of the child.

" _I hope that she gets better soon. I don't know what I would do without her._ "

Demure faded into desperateness and the childish tone dropped to that a grown man. Even without his sight, Naruto could sense the tired lines on the man's face, the darkened skin that rested beneath his eyes and the residual marks on his cheeks that marked his tears.

" _I needed this! I knew you were listening. Thank you, lord._ "

The man's face melted into that of a woman, a teen by his estimate. Her black tresses moved along with her bouncing form. Clothed in a pair of striped pajamas, a single piece of paper was captured in her grip as her bouncing carried her through the kitchen. The tile floor did little in absorbing the force of her bounces, making the wooden dining table jump along with her movements. Her breakfast, a half-empty plate that contained a sole sausage link, half of a pancake and a small hill of eggs laid forgotten. The second hand of an analog clock ticked away silently as her squeals resonated through kitchen flooded with an early morning light.

"Look, God-"

The light within the kitchen bled black. He was helpless, unable to move, as the darkness overcame his form and, eventually, the entirety of his vision, leaving him blind once more.

"I don't believe in you. I never have-"

A soft beeping was the first to reach his ears. The noise was familiar. It pounded away at his memory, each beep a nail that brought the solidified thought closer to the surface of his mind. But as the nostalgic memory was about to burst into the forefront of his consciousness, his sight returned to him, stealing away his attention.

"I know you can't save me. I know you won't. But, if you exist … if you've been watching me all of my life-"

A soft moonlight bled through the curtained windows of the room. With his vision restored, Naruto was able to easily tell that they were located in a hospital room. The repetitive beeping came from a heart monitor that sat near a hospital bed. Immaculate white sheets had been tossed to the ground, leaving the bed's owner bare to the room's elements.

"-Give me this. I don't want to burn. I wasn't the best but I don't deserve hell. Isn't this bad enough? You can't kill me early on earth then send me to hell?"

The man's sunken chest rose and fell with each word. His eyes were closed yet Naruto saw traces of tears leaking past his eyelids. The liquid sorrow fell from his face and wetted the thin hospital gown that covered his frame.

"I hope you're listening. You better be listening. After doing this to me, you damn better be listening."

The man's eyes shot up and swept across the room. For a brief moment, his vision fell over Naruto, paralyzing the blond. Those brown eyes were crack-filled dams of emotion, his tears serving as the torrent of water battering against the interior.

"You brought everything to m-

"It's time for you to make a choice."

A voice flooded through the room and drowned out the man's rambling. Naruto did a quick sweep of the area around him but found nothing that could correlate to the new voice.

"Michael Irvin Sairon. 33 years old. Cause of death will be terminal lung cancer in approximately two hours-"

"Who are you?"

"Michael's primary sin was greed. He never sought repentance for his sin, making him ineligible for entrance into any level of heaven. You must banish him to hell." The blond's shout went ignored as the voice continued one. Booming and stern, the voice lacked emotion as sentenced the man to hell.

"I'm not going to send a guy I don't know to hell!"

"Michael spent his early twenties stealing money from the people who offered him his first job when he was fourteen. At the age of eighteen, he pressured his then-girlfriend into getting an abortion, threatening to denounce her and their relationship if she went through with the pregnancy. The last five years of his life have been spent running away from his cancer diagnostic while blaming others for it despite its origins being the aggressive amount of smoking he did during his youth."

Silenced. The words had been stolen from his mouth. With each word spoken by the voice, his will to argue was stolen away from him. He felt numb in the presence of the man's past even as the said man continued to angrily ramble in his bed, ignorant to the conversation taking place a few feet away from him.

"Heaven is not purely for the righteous. Its gates are not locked to those who have sinned. But, it is locked to those who refuse to repent unless faced with the hands of death. Hell is an appropriate place for this man. He spent his mortal life enraptured in greed. His eternal life, the one true life, should be spent in damnation, separated from the grace of the Lor-"

"Shut the hell up!" For once, the voice actually showed signs of hearing the blond, silencing itself on his command. "Who the hell are you to sit back and judge this man's life?"

"I am the presence of the Lord. I am the father, the son and the holy spirit. I am the One True God."

"A father is supposed to protect their kids! How can you call yourself a father when you're trying to damn your kids to hell."

"I gave him life. He wasted it thus he sh-"

"I can see why people don't believe in gods." Once again, Naruto's words cut a hot line through God's words. "You're supposed to be all-powerful and all-knowing yet us simple humans owe you guys something? Y'know what? You're just a selfish asshole. Michael didn't owe you anything. He may have been an ass but he lived his life the best way he knew how. And he's asking for forgiveness now and you want to send him to hell? You're no god. You're no better than a bratty little kid!"

In the moments after his tirade, the only thing that could be heard was his heavy breathing as his chest rose and fell. With no face to aim his anger at, the blond let it loose in all directions, unrestrained and wild. The silence-a telling sort of silence-accompanied him, serving to only make him more agitated.

"Naruto Uzumaki. 18 years of age-"

"Don't you fucking do tha-"

"Cause of death is unknown. Primary sin is gluttony. Labelled Child of Destiny and Boy of Miracles." The voice rattled off, silencing Naruto. Confusion etched its way onto his face as the words hit him. "You say this man doesn't deserve hell. You question my will and call me a coward. You question my love for my children, the beings I created in my own image and gifted the gift of life."

The voice broke away into a small chuckle, the first sign of actual emotion from the unseen presence. Then, suddenly, the walls surrounding the blond broke away and with them, Michael. Naruto's last sight of the man was of him with tears streaming down his cheeks, his hospital gown balled up in his clenched fists.

"Do you think you're worthy of being a god? Do you think you're worthy of judging a man's life by his actions?"

"No." Despite the fact that he found himself floating in a black void, surrounded by nothing for what seemed to be miles, the answer flew out of his mouth immediately. The experiences he had been dragged through in the past few months had solidified his answer long before this voice had asked him.

"Perfect."

With a single word, the world around Naruto exploded into light. His hands came up to shield his eyes as the light encompassed him.

"Naruto Uzumaki. I am gone from the world. My grace has long since left its plane. The war I foolishly fueled has taken its toll on earth. But, it will survive. You will make it survive."

Shock melded into a fierce trepidation as the meaning behind God's words became clear to the blond.

"No, no, no, no, no!" The protest leaped out of his mouth in a rushed jumble of words.

"With my will, you will do what even my son has yet to accomplish. The Longinus Spear will be the symbol that you are the world's One and True-"

"Don't you say it!"

"-God. The world is in your hands, Naruto Uzumaki."

With those words, the light surrounded him died away, restoring his vision. He was met with the sight of an aged man with an uncountable amount of wrinkles on his face. Beneath the wrinkles, Naruto could spot the tell-tale signs of a smile. The face stared back at him for a few moments before it melted, revealing the face of a small female child. The barest hints of her grin were caught by the blond before the face left him. A dark-skinned male took her place only to be replaced by the face o a tanned woman. Woman turned to male and dark turned to light as the cycle continued, each interval between the faces growing shorter and shorter until he was left staring at an indistinguishable blur of faces.

"I have faith in you."

The world around him descended into black for a brief moment before he found himself standing back in the 7th level of Heaven, directly in front of the bowl Michael had led him to. Only now, the light was no longer present within the structure.

"Father!"

He heard a squeal come from his left before a weight hit him in the side. He stumbled briefly before catching himself. He looked down at his waist, fully expecting to see Lilith clinging to him only to be stunned when he was met with Gabriel's golden hair splayed across his lower body.

"I was right, Michael. He's back."

Though her voice came out as muffled, he could hear the nearly silent sobs that contorted her voice into a nearly unrecognizable garble. He looked toward Michael for answers only to be met with the teary-eyed gaze from the Seraph.

"Welcome back, Father. Welcome back."

* * *

 _ **AN: This has officially jumped off the cliff to crack-fic levels of ridiculousness.**_

 ** _P.S If you're a person who enjoys reading or writing fanfiction of any type, come join our discord server. There, you can interact with other readers/writers, take part in our writing competition and some other appealing thing! A link is in my profile. Check it out.  
P.P.S I'm a lot more active on the discord. _**


	41. Chapter 41

_Before we go any further, I feel like I need to clear up some things. Now, I know there's been a lot of words thrown around. Some people think a certain way and others think the otherwise. I'm talking right now to straighten all of that out._

 _My name is Naruto Uzumaki and I am a lot of things. I am, and forever will be, a shinobi from the Hidden Leaf Village. I am the son of the Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki. I am the container of the nine-tailed fox, Kurama. I am a member of team 7, apprentice to the legendary Toad Sannin,_ _reincarnation of old man Sage's son, future Hokage and avid ramen lover._

 _What I am NOT is a god._

 _I don't care how many people call me one. I don't care how many stupid weapons and symbols get tossed at me. I don't even care about how many people worship me. I am not and will never be a god of ANYTHING. This includes candy, ramen, heaven, earth and whatever other stupid thing you want to say I have control over._

 _I'm just a normal guy who got thrown into a crazy situation. Until I say otherwise, I will be just that._

 _I know everyone won't accept this. I know they'll be some people out there who will think of me as their god until the day I die. I can't help that. I can't fix that. All I can do is tell as many of you the truth and hope to whatever actual god that is out there that as many as you as possible will listen._

 _But, deep down in my stomach, I have a feeling no one will._

* * *

"Two more kids without me? Naruto, I'm hurt."

"Father, I have siblings now?"

"Your spawn creating skills are expressive, Naruto."

Speechless. Confused. Dumbfounded. Frustrated.

There were a lot of words you could have used to describe his overall mood. Any of them would have been accurate because, honestly, there was no one way to describe how he felt. He was speechless because no matter how much he wanted to shout his head off, the words wouldn't escape his mouth. They remained trapped beneath an invisible barrier that was at work trying to keep his sanity together.

"Rejoice! He is back. After all those years, he has returned to us."

As gently as his shockladden mind could manage, his arms came up and pushed the girl away from himself. Ignoring the confused expression on the angel's face, he turned to Ophis, his face an unreadable mask of swirling emotions.

"Please make a portal back to my house."

The dragon's loyalty to him shone bright when she carried out his request without any questioning. With a small amount of gesturing on her part, a portal stood in his path. Naruto offered up Koneko a pointed look before stepping through the portal.

"H-Hey, wait! Don't leave me here, nya!" Seeing her caretaker disappear through a portal set the older Nekoshou alight. She jumped through the air toward the portal in pursuit of him, only for her path to be blocked by her little sister's back. Her momentum came to a hard stop when she crashed into the younger girl's back, sending her crumpling to the ground. A pained groan crawled its way out of her throat as she watched her sister step through the portal instead of her.

"Excuse me." From her position on the ground, Kuroka got an amazing view of Lilith stepping over her body and following Naruto and Koneko through the portal. Ophis followed right behind the younger dragon. Soon, there was no one but Kuroka and the two angels left in the building.

"I should get going." Kuroka managed to force out in the midst of some nervous laughter. She began to climb back up to her feet in order to leave, only to be blown back down to the ground when Gabriel went blazing past her through the portal. To add insult to injury, the portal closed just as the winged blonde leaped through it, leaving her alone with the de facto leader of Heaven.

"H-hello there, nya." Another nervous chuckle left her mouth as she stared up at the angel. She felt her stomach drop when the man sighed and took a step toward her. Completely unfamiliar with the angel, images of her imminent death flashed through her head as the angel grew closer. She could already feel the burn of one of his light spears piercing into her skin, filling her with holy energy and ending her short life.

"Come on. We have to go after my rash sister before she damages Naruto with her affection." The devil was surprised that instead of having a spear shoved into her back, a hand was placed in front of her face. She hesitated for a moment at the sight of the man's immaculate hand in front of her. Her hesitation cost her, however, when she was yanked up to her feet by the angel, causing a yelp to leave her mouth.

"Sorry for my roughness. We don't have much time and entering his house could prove to be difficult for me."

With those words, and with the nekoshou wrapped in his grasp, Michael palmed the air in front of him. The area around his hand rippled for a brief moment before a luminescent portal appeared. The angel didn't waste any time as he stepped through the portal with a stunned Kuroka in tow.

* * *

"Fath- Naruto!" The words erupted out of her mouth as she erupted out of the portal. Her momentum carried her, legs first, into the back of the couch. Her upper body went flipping over top of it, landing her head first on the ground in front of the chair.

"Naruto is gone."

The angel's head snapped upward to meet the eyes of the younger nekoshou that had been present with Naruto in the 7th layer of Heaven.

"What do you mean? I saw him leave Heaven only moments ago. Where could he have gone? He could not have gotten far in such a short period of time"

The words flew out of her mouth toward the seated girl. The relative harshness of her tone seemed to bounce off of her devil skin as Koneko's expression stayed as calm as ever.

"He's fast."

That answer was not enough for her. She had just gotten a piece of her father back and her patience for the stonewall-esque girl was not up to par.

"Where did he go?"

She was met with silence. That silence was met with an uncharacteristic flaring of her anger. Why was this girl being so difficult? All she wanted were simple answers involving her father. Wasn't she entitled to that much?

"Excuse m-"

A sharp cough cut the angel off. She curbed the urge to flare her wings out and, instead, simply spun to face the source of the noise. She was met with the puffed out cheeks of Kuroka.

"Naruto went out to get some fresh air. And, as long as Naruto is gone from the house, I'm in charge, nya! So, I'm going to ask you to sit down and leave Naruto alone or I'll make you."

To punctuate her point, the woman's magic seal appeared behind her. Its glow threw a dark, purple haze onto the entirety of the room. A wispy smoke started to emit from the edges of the seal, filling the room with its ominous fog.

Gabriel was not afraid. The angel was known for her beauty, there was no doubt of that, but that did not take away from the fact that she was a participant in the Great War. She fought alongside her brother, father, and fellow angels. She shed the blood of devils and ended bloodlines. She waged war, face-to-face, against the original Four Great Satans. She was a warrior and a simple cat would not be enough to stop her.

A pair of dragon gods, however, would be more than enough. From the corner of her eye, through the purple haze clouding the room, she spotted the duo standing in the hallway of the house. Any thought of further action was flushed from her mind at that sight. Her father hadn't raised a fool. Drawing the ire from the dragons could spell the death of her.

" _I can't die with him so close._ "

With that thought, she abandoned any thought of retaliation and visibly slumped in front of nekoshou seemed to take this as a sign of her submission and allowed her magic seal to disappear from view, releasing the room of her smog.

"Fine, I'll sit." With an almost childish deposition about her, the angel took a wide step backward then fall ass first into one of the room's many seats.

With the room's main source of confrontation now effectively bottled, an awkward silence settled upon the room. With Gabriel too frustrated with her situation to speak, Kuroka silently glaring daggers at the angel and the natural quiet nature of Koneko and the dragon duo, not a word was said in the room.

And, not a word would be said until Naruto returned.

* * *

A silent maple stood strong in the depths of Japan. Isolated from all except for her kin, she served as a beautiful but unneeded guardian to the small clearing she bordered. Every once in awhile, the odd yet familiar creature would try to make its home in her bark. Their presence was always a welcome change yet that change was always fleeting.

For a being as old as she was, this was disappointing. The cycle of being used and abandoned had taken a toll on her. Her roots had twisted, turned gray and jagged. Her leaves were crinkling and pungent. Her bark, gashed and uneven.

She was a fragment of what she once was. A twisted and jaded extension of earth's mental state.

That was until he arrived.

He had come into her clearing, reeking of negative emotion. It rolled off of him in waves, poisoning the air with its toxicity. She recognized him. It was hard not to. Her mistress' infatuation with him made him famous amongst her kind. But, the man she saw was not the one her mistress gushed about. She spoke of a man of serenity, of peace and Trinity. This was not him.

She had hesitated to inform her mistress of his presence. She didn't want her to see the man she cared about in such a negative state. She had already gone through so much.

So, instead, she watched. She watched as the boy paced around her clearing, mumbling incoherent gibberish to himself. She watched as the emotions flashed across his face, shifting from negative to calm within moments. She watched as he finally settled on an expression of acceptance before he sat directly underneath her.

Then she _felt._

It came at her in a sudden rush. She felt a slight pull at her reserves before the entire world was opened to her. Her roots, untouched for decades, became unfurled as pure ecstasy flooded through her. Her bark pressed and heaved in an attempt to handle the purity of the energy she was consuming.

She was in heaven.

"I must inform her of his presence immediately!"

* * *

As he breathed in, he felt the world around him breathe with him. And, as he released that breath, he felt the world bend and stretch in an attempt to mimic his actions. The wind in the clearing had stilled, leaving his body completely motionless.

He was angry. Exhausted nor tired could properly describe how he felt right now. He was _tired_ of being tired. His exhaustive tanks had run dry.

The only thing left was anger.

Who had deemed it acceptable for this burden to put placed on him? He hadn't agreed to this. He hadn't agreed to any of this. He wanted a life of simplicity. He deserved a life of simplicity.

He sucked in a deep breath of cool air to relieve the burning mass that had begun to build up in his chest. His malignant thoughts gathered within the wind and banged erratically against his 'chest as he held the breath. He could feel them stab into his heart, heightening the emotional turmoil he was feeling. With each passing moment, the feeling grew worse and worse until it reached a terrible apex.

Then it vanished.

With a release of his breath, it went away. All the negative emotions, the malignant thoughts, the burning anger, all gone. Serenity sat in its place. A serenity that radiated out from its body and reached out to the world around him. Nature gladly accepted, taking ahold of his body and rooting him in place as it greedily sucked away.

He felt her. Now, it was impossible not to whenever he entered sage mode. Despite her consuming presence, she felt distant at first. He felt her gradually move toward him, traveling hundreds of miles in the span of seconds. He could feel the build-up of her energy overtake his form and strain the limits of his sage abilities. As she grew closer, more of her energy and more of its taint followed her. His body buckled beneath the pressure, his teeth grit together in an attempt to maintain it all. He felt anger, hate, pressure, all attempting to tear him open and feast at his burdened heart.

With a single breath, it all vanished.

"Just as I said, your matters have been dealt with and I have returned."

His eyes came to a slow open, revealing Gaea's naked form standing across the clearing. A small smile graced her face as she teetered around the forest's edge, her form swaying to and fro.

"You feel different," Gaea commented as she took her first step toward Naruto's sitting form. Her smile grew in size as the soft grass welcomed the touch of her feet.

"You feel _godly_."

And, just like that, the energy that had been so abundantly flowing off of the object of her infatuation disappeared. It was a hard cut-off that left her oddly numb. The smile fell from her face in an instant as she stared down Naruto.

"Why are you here?"

Through their connection, he could feel the chill in his voice and it made her shiver.

"I felt you through our connection. You were clearly distraught, so I came." She took a tentative step toward him as she spoke. Another step followed than one then another until she was standing only a foot away from him. When he didn't rebuke her for the distance between them, she folded her legs beneath her and sat at his side.

The two sat in silence for several minutes. Gaea could feel the residual natural energy flowing off of his form but said nothing when he didn't reestablish their connection. She had a feeling that the boy had faced enough pressure as of recently. With that knowledge, she made the decision to do something she hadn't done in a long time.

She would play the role of a mother.

"What's bothering you, dear?"

The words felt so foreign in her mouth. Dear was a title that was once meant for her true loved one. Her husband once bore that title until he decided to betray her and harm her children. Her eldest sony held that title until he descended into a state cruelty that surpassed his own father. Once, the humans of earth had held that title during the days when they cultivated her surface and cared for the resources she bestowed upon them.

Those days were long gone.

"I am not here to add to your burden, child. I'm only here to listen." She added after several moments of silence from the boy. She watched the lines of his face fold and crinkle. Despite his silence, she could basically hear the internal struggle he was facing through his varying expressions.

"I've been through a bunch." Her expression perked up when the words left his mouth. Her hopes of finally learning more about the enigmatic blond would finally be coming true.

"I've watched my whole village get destroyed because of me. I've watched my friends sacrifice themselves for me. Thousands of people, with lives and families, died trying to protect me."

If she hadn't been curious before, she was curious now. What type of life had this child been living where he had already gone through such hardship at such a young age?

"And, just when everything was going well, I get ripped away from my home and thrown here. I didn't ask for that. I fought for my home. I fought so that everyone, even me, could go home and try their best to restart their lives."

A visible tremor ran through his body. Whether it was from anger or sadness, she could not tell. His head was hung down, allowing his hair to shade almost the entirety of his face.

"So, I get here and I try to restart. I try to restart for myself and all the people who cared about me because I know they would have been angry if I at least didn't try. But, this time, I try to do things differently. I couldn't live my dream but I could live a life worth living. Protect the people I love. I tried to do stuff simple. No more fighting ninjas, masked villains or evil goddesses. Just a normal life."

The boy's head came with a deep sigh. Gaea was happy to see that no tears were present in his years yet the downcast expression that marked his face kept her happiness at bay.

"That's all I really wanted. When the devils came around, I thought I could just ignore them. Then the angels and fallen angels got involved. Then the greeks then the Egyptians and the Hindus and.." The blond stopped to suck in a breath.

"Now, I'm considered god in several religions. I hear more voices in my head than I usually do and everyone either wants to kill or take advantage of me. I have a pair of dragons living in my house and I don't know what I'm supposed to do."

A frown dipped across her face when she heard a slight hitch in his voice. Her body beckoned for her to reach out and ignore it she did not. She felt welcomed when he didn't flinch or move away from her touch.

"Child." His head swung up to meet her eyes. "As of right now, you are one of the most powerful and influential figures in the universe."

"I don't want to be, though."

"Tough luck." She spat out in reply. Her soft features turned into a deep scowl as she stared down the blond. "Sometimes in life we are given powers and responsibilities we did not ask for. Instead of laying down and letting them defeat us, it is up to us to utilize the abilities for our own benefit."

"And, you." Her call forced his full attention onto her. "With your position and power, you have the entirety of the world in your hand. Every opportunity and every possibility sit at your fingertips. You are not at the end of anyone's rope. You hold the key to your own fate. You have the ability to throw this world inArmageddondon or bestow peace onto it for the foreseeable future."

He responded with silence, the thoughtful type. He could see some truth and a whole lot of reasoning within her words, even when he ignored the diety's strange interest in him.

"Do what you want, Naruto. If you want to raze the Heavens, go ahead. If you to subjugate humanity, be my guest. If you wish to subjugate me, be my guest." She whispered the last part into his ear, her hand sliding uncomfortably far up his leg. Before he could react, she was up on her feet and her hand nowhere near his crotch.

"This is where the real fun begins, child. All the power in your hand and no one to stop you but yourself. To be young~" She let out one last wistful sigh before melding into the ground below. The roots of her hair was the last he saw of her before she was gone, leaving him alone once more in the forest.

" _Father, I come to you as a sinner..."_

" _Thank you, god, for letting us win…."_

" _Why'd you take my baby away from me? You were supposed to protect us..."_

" _God, I just want my family to be happy..."_

" _God..."_

" _God..."_

* * *

"He's been gone for too long. I'm going to look for him."

Just as she managed to lift herself halfway out of her seat, she felt a hand land against her midsection and force her back down into her chair. Before she could voice her protest, Ophis' stoic yet heated expression filled her vision.

"Sit. Stay."

Indignation filled her at being addressed like an animal. She wanted to voice the indignation but the combined looks from the pair of dragons and Nekoshou in the room kept her silent.

This was not how she expected her reunion with her father would go. She had trusted that, eventually, the man would come back to the world. His presence would bless the planet in its entirety and rid the world of its evil.

She was beginning to realize how wrong she had been.

"Aren't any of you worried? With his power, he could be attracting all sorts of horrible creatures to himself. What if he could hope?" She hoped that maybe appealing to the group of four's affection toward Naruto would allow her to make her grandscape.

"We're not worried."

Proven wrong once again.

"Naruto can and will care for himself." Ophis spoke up this time. Her words were silently echoed by her clone as Lilith nodded her head along with her mother's words. Seeing that the two dragons weren't going to be of any help to her, Gabriel cut her eyes over to Koneko. The look she received was enough to stonewall any of her remaining hopes.

"Naruto said he needed to be alone. Its that simple."

Her upper canine bit deep into the tan flesh of her lips. She couldn't stand this feeling for much longer. His holy presence called her to charge out into the world and find him. She wanted to be close to him. After so long without his grace, she _needed_ to be by his side.

"Don't you want to with him, though? He seemed upset when he left. Don't you want to be by his side to help him?"

"Yes." The response made her blink. She hadn't expected an affirmative response so quickly from the girl. Before she could even open her mouth to add on statement, Koneko was speaking once again.

"I want to be next to him every single moment of the day. Its one of the few things I want. But, he needs time alone. I know he'll come back. Because of I'm here. So, I am not worried."

Certainty. Nothing but absolute certainty could be heard in the girl's voice. What she spoke, she believed in without a shadow of and doubt and Gabriel was finding it hard to find a reason not to believe the girl herself. The conviction in her voice spoke to her. It reached her in a way that she hadn't expected from someone so young and so … devilish.

"How are you so sure?" She couldn't help but question.

"Because, I know Naruto."

As if god himself had been listening in on their conversation, the door swung open not a moment after the girl spoke. Naruto came walking into the room, his arms hanging loosely by his side and his face sporting a small smile. The smile seemed to grow when he saw Koneko yet tapered off when he saw Gabriel sitting in his living room.

"Father…" Her throat seized up, forcing her voice down to a whisper. A surge of emotion erupted from her chest and filled her body. The corner of her eyes began to sting as her vision of Naruto blurred.

"I'm not your dad."

"But-"

"Gabriel." His voice silenced her. The look he sent her way kept her in place and her mouth closed. "I'm not your dad. Your dad, for whatever reason, decided to give me his powers but I am not him. I will never be him."

The stinging in her eyes grew more painful at her words. Her throat grew thick as a well of emotion seized her by the neck, making the act of breathing almost impossible. A stab of pain, part physical and part emotional, shot through her heart, forcing those built up tears down her cheeks.

Before she could cry her eyes out, she felt a hand land on the top of her head. She looked up, her teary eyes meeting with Naruto's blue ones.

"I need you to get Michael here."

The sound of a toilet flushing caught the attention of everyone in the room. Their heads collectively turned toward the bathroom as its door swung open with a creek. Out came strutting Michael, his hands folded neatly behind his back while a pleasant left his lips in a hum.

"Oh my!" The angel exclaimed at the sight of Naruto. "I didn't expect you back so soon. You have a very nice restroom, I must say."

"...Thank you." That was Naruto's tentative response to the angel's odd compliment. He had never been complimented on the quality of his bathroom before and was having a hard to processing it.

"Wait." With a quick shake of his head, he sent the bathroom compliment to the back of his mind. "You're here. That makes this easier."

The inquisitive look Michael sent his way forced the boy to suck in a deep breath. Was he entirely sure this was what he wanted to do? Did he really want to throw himself into this position? Was it worth the trouble? Was it worth the freedom?

"Michael." He exhaled as he spoke. "I'm going to be a god."

"Thats wonderful! I'll alert Heav-"

"Before you do anything." The blond held up a finger, stopping the angel in his tracks. "I'm going to tell you that there's going to be some changes. A lot of changes."

"If I'm going to be a god, I'm going to do it my way. The Uzumaki way."

* * *

AN: **Welcome to the final act of ASTSO. This is the point of no return, where this ridiculous story gets even more out of control. I hope you all have enjoyed the ride and will enjoy going over this last little hill at this point. With this story soon to be the top favorited, followed and review Naruto/DxD fic, I can't say enough how much I appreciate the support I've gotten from this story. Its creation has pushed me to a lot of things.**

 **Thank you all. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. PM or review with any questions, concerns, comments, etc. Peace**

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